THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


/      v   T^srXTS       /b&     A  _*4         ^&^         Vjw*_^'^r<^     A1*^  ^     ' 


< 


/*  c<^'Yt 


HOR/C    SABBATIC^. 

PART  1. 


HOR^E  SABBATIOE; 


OR, 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  CORRECT  CERTAIN 


SUPERSTITIOUS  AND  VULGAR  ERRORS 


RESPECTING 


THE    SABBATH. 


BY    GODFREY    HIGGINS,    ESQ. 

P.  P.  A.,    F.  R.  ASIAT.  SOC.,   P.  R.  AST.  S. 

AUTHOR  OF  CELTIC  DRUIDS ;    APOLOGY  FOR    MOHAMED,   THE   ILLUSTRIOUS;    ANACALYPSIS, 
OR  AN  ENQUIRY   INTO  THE   ORIGIN   OF  LANGUAGES,    NATIONS   AND  RELIGIONS. 


NEW  YORK: 

PETER  ECKLER,   PUBLISHER, 
35  FULTON  STREET. 


COPYRIGHTED,  1893,  BY  PETER  ECKLER. 


PUBLISHER'S    PREFACE. 


IN  Horce  Sabbaticcz  the  Christian  Sabbath,  or  the  Sun- 
day, is  shown,  in  the  words  of  our  learned  author, 
"to  be  a  human,  not  a  divine  institution,  —  a  festival,  not 
a  day  of  humiliation,  —  to  be  kept  by  all  consistent  Chris- 
tians with  joy  and  gladness,  like  Christinas  Day  and  Easter 
Sunday,  and  not  like  Ash  Wednesday  or  Good  Friday.  " 

Strictly  speaking,  all  institutions  now  observed  by 
human  beings  may  claim  a  human  origin,  but  many 
pious  and  sincere  people  believe  differently,  and  claim 
in  addition  to  human  laws,  divine  authority  for  the 
religious  observance  of  Sunday.  But  their  notions  in 
regard  to  this  subject  are  confused  and  ill-defined,  and 
will  not  bear  the  test  of  examination. 

They  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  inspired  word  of  God, 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God, 
and  also  God  himself,  but  when  the  Son  of  Mary  defends 
his  disciples  for  violating  Jewish  Sabbath  laws  by 
plucking  corn  on  the  Sabbath  day,  (  as  recorded  in  Mark 
ii,  23-28,)  and  tells  the  Pharisees  that  "  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath,"  and  that 
"the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath,"  our 
modern  Sabbatarians,  although  they  assert  that  "Jesus 
spoke  as  one  having  authority,"  yet  seem  to  have  no 


LIB  SETS 


vi  PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE. 

sympathy  with  his  liberal  views,  and,  by  striving  to 
enforce  the  puritanical  Sunday  laws  of  modern  bigotry, 
they,  in  effect,  like  the  ancient  Pharisees,  oppose  the 
teachings  of  their  "Saviour,"  and  repudiate  the  au- 
thority of  the  God  they  pretend  to  worship. 

Because  the  Jews  were  commanded  in  the  Bible  to  "Re- 
member [Saturday]  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy," 
certain  pharisaical  sectarians  decided  to  remember  the  Sun 
day,  the  venerable  day  of  the  Sun,  and  keep  it  holy  in 
like  manner,  without  any  biblical  command  for  so  doing. 

The  Bible  student  will  seek  in  vain  throughout  its 
pages  for  any  reference  to  Sunday  observance,  as  there  is 
no  authority  whatever  in  either  the  Old  or  New  Testa- 
ment for  keeping  holy  the  day  which  the  idolatrous 
Pagans  formerly  dedicated  to  the  Sun.  Christ  and  his 
Disciples  never  proposed  so  radical  an  innovation.  St. 
Paul  and  the  Evangelists  never  advocated  such  a  change. 
The  Apostles  were  Jews  by  birth,  education,  and  faith. 
They  were  strict  observers  of  Jewish  laws  and  customs, 
and  it  was  while  celebrating  the  Jewish  feast  of  the  Pass- 
over at  Jerusalem,  that  Jesus  was  betrayed  by  Judas, 
and  arrested,  tried,  convicted,  and  crucified  by  Pilate. 

It  is  recorded  of  a  certain  pious  Puritan  of  "Merrie 
Old  England,"  that  he 

"  Hung  a  cat  on  Monday,  for  killing  of  a  mouse  on  Sunday ;  " 

and  it  is  certain  that  the  Puritans  of  New  England  have, 
by  their  pious  zeal  and  odious  Blue  Laws,  done  all 
within  their  power  to  make  life  a  burden  to  the  sojourner 
within  their  gates  on  the  day  which  the  ancient  Pagans 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE.  vii 

called  Sunday,  and  which  was  observed  by  the  Atheni- 
ans as  sacred  to  APOLLO,  the  Sun-god, — "the  god  of 
life,  and  poesy,  and  light." 

The  first  Christian  Emperor,  the  wicked  Constantine, 
who  imagined  that  his  stalwart  form,  impressive  features, 
august  and  commanding  presence,  gave  him  a  resemblance 
to  the  Grecian  HELIOS  or  Roman  APOLLO, — the  fabled 
god  of  the  Sun, — was  a  strong  advocate  for  the  change 
from  the  Jewish  sacred  Saturday  to  the  equally  sacred 
Pagan  Sunday,  or  the  day  named  for  and  dedicated  to 
the  solar  luminary.  And  when  this  latter  day  is  observed 
as  a  day  of  rest,  recreation,  or  devotion,  according  to  the 
separate  inclination  of  each  and  every  individual,  no 
reasonable  objection  can  be  made  to  the  change. 

Sunday  observance  is  at  best  but  a  human  institution, 
without  any  claim  to  occult  authority,  and  while  it  is  not 
of  special  importance  to  wealthy  people,  who  have  the 
365  days  of  the  year  at  their  disposal,  it  is  of  great  ben- 
efit and  advantage  to  the  industrial  classes. 

The  religious  orders,  and  all  the  followers  of  ancient 
traditions,  should  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  displaying 
their  faith  in  Sunday  worship  as  ostentatiously  as  they 
may  desire,  and  reasonable  people  should  not  be  molested 
for  observing  Sunday  in  the  manner  which  proves  most 
conducive  to  their  welfare  and  happiness. 

"One  man,"  says  St.  Paul,  "esteemeth  one  day  above 
another  :  another  esteemeth  every  day  alike.  Let  every 
man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind." — Rom.  xiv,  5. 

PETER  ECKLER. 


PREFACE. 


IN  the  following  Treatise  some  persons  perhaps  may 
think,  that  too  much  trouble  is  taken  to  refute  trifling 
objections:  but  the  Author's  object  has  been  if  possible 
to  prevent  reply.  And  he  has  not  attempted  to  refute 
any  objection,  which  has  not  at  one  time  or  other,  been 
advanced  by  persons  with  whom  he  has  argued  on  the 
subject. 

He  flatters  himself  that  not  one  word  will  be  found  in 
the  whole,  which  can  give  just  offence  to  the  orthodox 
or  reasoning  Christian,  or  even  to  the  sincere  follower  of 
Wesley;  though  no  doubt  offence  enough  will  be  given 
to  members  of  societies  which  suppress  vice  in  rags,  and 
cherish  it  in  purple  and  fine  raiment, — itinerant  attend- 
ants at  missionary  meetings — such  as  practice  standing 
in  the  synagogues,  and  in  the  corners  cf  the  streets  sound- 
ing their  trumpet,  and  making  long  prayers.  (Matt.  vi. 
2-5.  xxiii.  14,  15.)  Persons  well  described  in  the  fol- 
lowing epigram,  written  by  a  much  esteemed  friend  of 
the  Author. 

How  well  the  character  agrees 
'Twixt  new  and  ancient  pharisees  ; 
A  surly,  proud,  vindictive  race, 
Who  spat  upon  our  Saviour's  face  ; 
Because  he  told  them  it  was  wrong 
Either  to  pray  too  loud,  or  long. 

20  Keppel  Street,  Russell  Square. 


HOR/E    SABBATIC/E. 


OF  the  various  rites  which  have  been  established  by 
the  founders  of  the  different  religions  of  the  world, 
perhaps  there  is  no  one  which  is  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  temporal  happiness  and  comfort  of  mankind, 
as  that  of  the  observance  of  one  day  in  every  seven  as  a 
day  of  rest.  The  appropriation  of  certain  days,  at  short 
periods  of  time,  to  the  purposes  of  devotion,  of  recreation, 
and  of  relaxation  from  worldly  cares,  seems  to  be  an 
institution  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  improvement  of  the 
mind,  and  to  the  advancement  of  civilization.  And  yet 
the  example  of  the  Turks, — the  strictest  of  all  the  ob- 
servers of  a  Sabbath  in  modern  times, — proves  that, 
excellent  as  the  institution  is,  human  perverseness  may 
prevail,  to  render  it  useless,  to  defeat  the  ends  for  which 
it  probably  was  originally  intended,  and  to  destroy  the 
good  effects  which  it  was  so  well  calculated  to  produce. 

2.  The  state  of  ignorance  and  barbarism,  into  which 
the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  have  fallen,  which  were 
formerly  possessed  by  the  elegant  and  enlightened 
caliphs,  makes  it  evident  that  this  institution  is  not  nec- 
essarily accompanied  with  improvement  and  civilization  ; 

(7) 


8  HOR^E    SABBATIC^). 

and  after  its  first  institution  amongst  Christians,  it  was 
equally  unavailable,  to  prevent  the  well-known  igno- 
rance and  barbarism  of  the  middle  ages  ;  but  in  each 
case  this  effect  has  arisen  by  the  abuse  of  it,  or  in  oppo- 
sition to  it,  not  by  its  means.  Its  tendency  was  evidently 
to  produce  a  contrary  effect  ;  and  it  can  only  be  regretted 
that  its  power  was  not  greater  and  more  efficacious. 

3.  But  it  is  not  fair  to  reason  against  the  use,  from  the 
abuse  of  a  thing  ;  and  there  is  nothing  in   this  world 
which  may  not  be  converted  to  an  evil  purpose,  and  the 
good  effects  of  which  may  not  be  destroyed  by  artful  and 
designing  men.     A  proof  of  this  may  be  found  in  the 
way  in  which  attempts  are  now  making  in  this  coun- 
try, to  convert  the  institution  of  which  I  am  treating 
to  purposes  pernicious  in  the  highest  degree  to  society — 
to  make  use  of  it  to  create  or  encourage  a  morose  and 
gloomy  superstition,  the  effect  of  which  will  be  to  de- 
base, not  to  exalt  or  improve  the  human  mind. 

4.  The  Puritans,  Evangelical  Christians  as  they  call 
themselves,  the  modern  Pharisees  in  reality,  a  sect  an- 
swering exactly  to  the  Pharisees  of  old,  finding  that  the 
restoration  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  which  was  peculiarly 
ordained  in  the  Old  Testament  for  the  use  of  the  Jews, 
is  well  calculated  to  serve  their  purpose,  and  being  pre- 
cluded by  various  circumstances  of  their  situation  from 
having  recourse  to  the  expedients  of  the  Catholic  priests, 
to  gain  possession  of  the  minds  of  their  votaries,  have 
exerted  all  their  power  by  its  means  to  attain  this  object. 
These  are  the  reasons  why  we  hear  more  of  the  heinous 
crime  of  Sabbath-breaking,  than  of  all  other  vices  to- 


HORJ3  SABBATIC^.  9 

gether.  And  hence  every  nerve  has  been  strained  to  the 
utmost,  to  extract  from  passages  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  meanings  favorable  to  this  design, 
which  the  words  will  not  justify.  *  But  the  fair  unsophis- 
ticated doctrines  on  this  subject,  as  taught  in  these 
works,  are  what  it  is  intended  here  to  enquire  into  and 
discuss. 

5.  In  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament,  a  single  pas- 
sage cannot  be  discovered  clearly  directing  the  observance 
of  a  Sabbath.     If  this  institution  be  of  the  importance 
which  some  persons  attach  to  it  in  a  religious  point  of 
view,  it  seems  very  extraordinary  that  not  one  of  the 
Evangelists  should  have  stated  any  thing  clearly  upon 
the  subject : — very  strange  that  we  do  not  find  the  mode 
described  in  which  it  was  kept  by  the  first  disciples,  or 
the  apostles,  in  plain,  clear,  and  unequivocal  language. 

6.  It  seems  reasonable  to  expect,  that  if  the  earliest 
Christians,  the  apostles  or  disciples,  had  considered  that 
the  observance  of  the  Sunday  was  actually  an  exchange 
of  the  Sabbath  from  the  Saturday,  by  divine  appoint- 
ment, we  should  find  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  all  our 
doubts  removed ;    and  removed,  not  by  implication  or 
forced   construction,    but   by   a   clear  and   unequivocal 
statement. 

7.  By  the  early  Christians  at  first  the  Jewish  Sabbath 
was  strictly  kept,  but  after  some  time  it  seems  to  have 
been  considered  by  their  immediate  followers,  along  with 

*  No  doubt,  amongst  the  Pharisees  of  old,  as  amongst  our  Evangel- 
ical Christians,  there  were  many  good,  well  disposed  persons,  the 
dupes  of  the  knaves. 


IO  HOR^E  SABBATIC^E. 

all  other  Jewish  ceremonies,  to  have  been  abolished  ;  but 
they  appear  very  wisely  to  have  thought,  that  it  would 
be  useful  and  proper  to  select  one  day  in  the  week, 
which,  without  neglecting  the  ordinary  duties  of  life 
arising  out  of  their  respective  situations,  should  be  ap- 
propriated to  the  observance  of  religious  duties,  of  rest 
and  recreation.  This  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the 
act  of  any  regular  deliberative  meeting,  but  to  have 
taken  place  by  degrees,  and  to  have  been  considered 
merely  as  a  measure  of  discipline,  liable  at  any  time  to 
be  varied  or  omitted,  as  the  heads  of  the  religion  might 
think  was  expedient. 

8.  From  a  variety  of  passages  in  the  Gospels,  Jesus 
appears  in  his  actions  to  have  made  no  distinction 
betwixt  the  Sabbath  and  any  other  day ;  doing  the 
same  things  on  the  Sabbath  that  he  did  on  any  other 
day.  In  reply  to  this  it  is  said,  that  what  he  did  on 
the  Sabbath  was  good  and  useful — such  as  healing  the 
sick  :  this  is  true ;  but  he  did  nothing  on  any  other 
day  which  was  not  good  and  useful  ;  and  therefore 
nothing  in  favor  of  the  Sabbath  can  be  inferred  from 
this.  Every  thing  which  is  not  bad  is  good  ;  and  it  is 
wrong  to  do  any  thing  on  any  day  which  is  not  good. 
One  of  the  most  important  of  all  the  Jewish  rites,  and 
one  of  the  most  strictly  enforced  by  the  Pharisees,  was 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  ;  and  it  appears  evident, 
that  Jesus  performed  various  actions  for  the  express 
purpose  of  making  manifest  his  disapprobation  of  the 
strict  observance  of  this  rite,  or  indeed  of  its  observance 
at  all. 


HOR;E  SABBATIC^.  n 

9.  After  he  had  healed  the  sick  man  at  the  pool  of 
Bethesda,  he  ordered  him  to  remove  his  bed  on  the  Sab- 
bath-day ;  and  it  appears  from  John  v.  10,  n,  12,  that 
a  very  correct  and  marked  distinction  was  made  by  the 
Jews,  betwixt  healing  the  man  and  carrying  away  the 
bed  :  they  say, 

It  is  the  Sabbath  ;   it  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  take  up  thy 
couch. 

Afterward,  when  the  Jews  charged  Jesus  with  having 
broken  the  Sabbath  in  this  instance,  his  reply  was  very 
extraordinary  :  v.  17. 

My  Father  worketh  until  now,  and  I  work. 

10.  If  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  be  deduced  by  implication 
from  his  conduct,  from  this  very  instance  the  Sabbath 
must  be  held  to  be  abolished.     He  expressly  says  to  the 
observation  on  the  subject  of  the   couch,    "/  works'1 
The  answer  of  Jesus  clearly  applies  to  the  moving  the 
bed  as  well  as  healing  the  man  ;   because  the  expression 
is,    "these  things,"   in  the  plural  number;    and  there 
were  but  two  acts  which  could  be  referred  to. 

11.  But  another  observation  offers  itself  on  this  sub- 
ject:  here  is  the  fairest  opportunity  afforded  to  Jesus  to 
support  the  Sabbath,  if  he  had  thought  proper.     If  he 
had  thought  it  right  that  the  Sabbath  should  have  been 
continued,  he  would  have  said  to  the  sick  man,  Arise, 
and  walk,  and  remove  thy  bed  when  the  Sabbath  is  over. 
He  would  then  have  taught  in  the  clearest  and  shortest 


12  HOR.E    SABBATIC^. 

terms  possible,  the  propriety  of  doing  good  works  of 
necessity,  and  the  impropriety  of  doing  such  as  were  not 
works  of  necessity  on  the  Sabbath.  In  every  one  of  the 
following  texts,  an  opportunity  is  afforded  to  Jesus,  so 
favorable  for  the  inculcation  of  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  account  for  his  neg- 
lect of  it,  if  it  were  his  intention  that  it  should  be  con- 
tinued. 

Luke  xiv,  4,  5.  xiii.  14.  vi.  6-10.  Matt.  xii.  2.    Mark,  ii.  27. 
John  vii.  22.  ix.  16. 

12.  Jesus  constantly  evades  the  attacks  of  the  Jews  on 
the  ground  of  necessity  ;  but  in  no  instance  does  he  drop 
a  word  expressive  of  disapprobation,  of  doing  even  un- 
necessary works  on  the  Sabbath.     This  is  named,  though 
it  is  not  necessary  to  the  argument ;   because  if  he  had 
expressed  himself  against  doing  unnecessary  works  on 
the  Jewish    Sabbath,   no  consequence  could  be  drawn 
from  this  circumstance  respecting  the  Christian  observ- 
ance of  Sunday. 

13.  In   Luke   xviii.   Jesus   has   an   opportunity  of  a 
different  kind  from  the  above,  of  supporting  the  Sab- 
bath :  but  he  avoids  it. 

1 8.  A  certain  ruler  asked  him,  saying,  Good  Master,  what 
shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life? 

19.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Why  callest  thou  me  good? 
none  is  good,  save  one,  that  is  God. 

20.  Thou   knowest   the   commandments,    Do   not   commit 
adultery,  Do  not  kill,  Do  not  steal,  Do  not  bear  false  witness, 
Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother. 


SABBATIC^.  13 

21.  And  he  said,  All  these  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up. 

22.  Now,  when  Jesus  heard  these  things,  he  said  unto  him, 
Yet  lackest  thou  one  thing  ;   sell  all  that  thou  hast,  and  give 
to  the  poor,  &c. 

14.  Here  Jesus  not  only  avoids  directing  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  ;  but  in  actually  specifying  the  command- 
ments by  name  which  are  necessary  to  insure  salvation, 
and  omitting  the  Sabbath,  if  he  do  not  actually  abolish 
it  the  neglect  of  the  opportunity  of  inculcating  it,  raises 
by  implication  a  strong  presumption  against  it.     But, 
indeed,  in  not  adding  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  to 
the   one   thing  more  which   was   lacking,  he   actually 
abolishes  it,  if  the  common  signification  of  words  is  to 
be  received. 

15.  The   ordering   the   bed  to  be  removed   was   one 
breach  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  following   passage  ex- 
hibits a  second  example  of  a  premeditated  breach  of  it 
by  Jesus. 

16.  At  the  first  verse  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Luke  it 
is  written, 

And  it  came  to  pass,  on  the  first  Sabbath  after  the  second 
day  of  unleavened  bread,  that  he  went  through  the  corn-fields  ; 
and  his  disciples  plucked  the  ears  of  corn,  and  did  eat,  rubbing 
them  with  their  hands. 

17.  In  this  passage  it  appears,   that  the  disciples  of 
Jesus,  with  his  approbation,  reaped  the  corn  on  a  Sab- 
bath-day.    It  also  appears  that  he  was  travelling  on  that 
day.      The   Pharisees,   as  usual,    reprimanded   him  for 
breaking  the  Sabbath,  which  he  justified,  saying,  "The 
Son  of  man  is  Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath,"  ver.  5. 


14  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

18.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that  provisions  were  not  to 
be  had  in  Judea.     It  is  represented  to  have  been  almost 
incredibly  rich   and  populous :    and  if  Jesus  had   not 
thought  the  reaping  the  corn  on  the  Sabbath  justifiable, 
he  would  have  provided  against  the  necessity  of  doing 
it,  if  any  necessity  there  was.     He  might  also  have  made 
use  of  this  occasion  to  inculcate  the  doctrine,  that  though 
acts  of  necessity  were  permitted,  all  others  were  expressly 
forbidden  on  the  Sabbath-day.     It  is  very  evident  that 
he  was  travelling.      The  road   probably  as  at  this  day 
passed  through  the  open  corn-fields. 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  he  went  through  the  corn-fields  on 
the  Sabbath  ;  and  his  disciples  began  as  they  went  to  pluck 
the  ears  of  corn;  and  the  Pharisees  said  unto  him,  See,  why 
do  they  on  the  Sabbath  that  which  is  not  lawful?* 

19.  The  conduct  of  his  disciples  he  defends,  upon  the 
example  of  David  eating  the  shew-bread,  which  it  was 
lawful  only  for  the  priests  to  eat ;   and  adds,  that  the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  the  Sabbath.    But 
not  a  word  is  said  which  can  be  construed  in  favor  of 
keeping  the  Sabbath. 

20.  It  has  been  observed  that  only  the  burthensome 
parts  of  the  Jewish  law  were  abolished,  but  that  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  not  a  burthen.     Where  is 
the  authority  for  this?     Is  it  not  a  burthen  to  be  refused 
permission  to  cut  the  wheat  when  it  is  shaking,  or  to 

*  By  this  it  was  not  meant  that  they  were  doing  an  unlawful  act 
because  the  corn  was  not  their  own,  but  by  Sabbath-breaking.  To 
pluck  the  ears  of  corn  is  permitted  by  Deut.  xxiii.,  25. 


SABBATIC^E.  15 

carry  it  from  the  approaching  storm?   all  which  is  ex- 
pressly forbidden  on  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 

21.  The  abolition  of  the  Levitical  law  was  intended, 
but  Jesus  no  where  expressly  declared  it  to  be  so.     The 
same  reason  operated  in  the  case  of  the  abolition  of  the 
Levitical   law  as  in  the   abolition  of  the  Sabbath,    to 
prevent  him  publicly  declaring  it. 

22.  If  Jesus  had  expressly  declared  that  people  were 
to  work  on  the  Sabbath,  and  that  it  was  to  be  abolished, 
he  would  have  offended  against  the  3ist  chapter  and  i5th 
verse  of  Exodus. 

Whosoever  doeth  any  work  in  the  Sabbath-day,  he  shall 
surely  be  put  to  death. 

23.  Indeed  the  strongest  charges  brought  by  the  Jews 
against  him  were,  that  he  had  broken  the  Sabbath,  and 
attempted  the  overthrow  of  the  L/evitical  law.      John 
says,  v.  1 8. 

Wherefore  the  Jews  sought  the  more  to  kill  him,  because  he 
not  only  had  broken  the  Sabbath,  but  said  also,  that  God  was 
his  father. 

24.  If  any  Jew  attempted  to  destroy  the  law  and  con- 
stitution as  established  by  Moses,  he  was  clearly  by  that 
law  liable  to  suffer  the  punishment  of  death.      Exod. 
xxxi.    15.     Numbers   xv.    32.     Deut.    xiii.    xxx.   xxxi. 
14-18. 

25.  And  that  such  was  the  intention  of  the  mission  of 
Jesus  is  clearly  proved  by  the  result,  with  which  we  are 
all  acquainted,  as  well  as  by  the  decision  of  the  Apostles 


1 6  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

detailed  in  the  book  of  their  Acts,  by  which  the  whole 
of  the  old  law  is  abolished,  except  four  things,  which 
are  called  necessary. 

26.  The  Apostles  must  have  known  from  Jesus  what 
was  his  intention  ;   besides,  acting  under  the  direction 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  could  not  err.     "When  Jesus 
abolished  the  old  law,  of  course  he  abolished  every  part 
of  it  which  was  not  expressly  excepted. 

In  Matt.  v.  17.     Jesus  says,    Think  not  that  I  am  come  to 
destroy  the  law,  &c.,  but  to  fulfill  it. 

27.  This  expression  appears  peculiarly  clear  and  ap- 
propriate :   and  it  seems  extraordinary,  that  the  learned 
and   ingenious   Unitarian,    Mr.    Evanson,    should   have 
found  any  difficulty  in  it. 

28.  According  to  the  account  given  of  Jesus  in  the 
Gospels,  it  was  evidently  not  his  inclination  to  surrender 
himself  to  the  Jews,  until  a  particular  period,  when  his 
mission  had  become  fulfilled ;    for  this  reason  it  was, 
that  he  repeatedly  withdrew  from  them  privately,  when 
their  rage  threatened  his  life :   for  the  same  reason,  he 
constantly  spoke  equivocally  when  he  saw  there  was 
danger  in  speaking  clearly,  until  the  last  moment,  when 
he  openly  avowed  himself  to  Pilate  to  be  the  Messiah. 
The  question  whether  he  came  to  abolish  the  old  law 
was  evidently  a  snare  ;   and  if  he  had  answered  it  in  the 
affirmative,  he  would  have  been  instantly  liable  to  suffer 
death,  according  to  the  law  given  by  God  in  Leviticus, 
and  which  he  came  to  abolish  :   but  the  answer  he  gave 
was  ambiguous  to  the  Jews  at  that  time,  although  clear 


SABBATIC^.  1 7 

to  us  now,  if  the   correct  meaning  of  the   words   be 
attended  to. 

29.  God  entered  into  a  covenant  with  the  Jews  to  con- 
tinue until  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.* 

30.  Suppose  I  enter  into  a  covenant  with  a  man,  to 
take  a  farm  of  me  on  certain  terms  for  seven  years.     At 
the  end  of  this  time,  is  the  covenant  abolished?     No. 
Are   the   terms   or  laws   on   which   he   held   the   farm 
abolished?      No.      The   law   or   terms,   as  well  as  the 
covenant,  are  fulfilled,  not  abolished  ;   and,  as  the  law- 
yers would  say,  the  demise  is  determined.     The  word 
fufilled  is  the  proper  and  true  word  to  use,  and  if  the 
word   abolished  or  destroyed  had  been   substituted,   it 
would  have  been  wrong  and  untrue  ;   and  as  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Sabbath  was  a  part  of  the  revealed  law,  or 
commandment  of  God,  and  was  in  no  other  way  obliga- 
tory than  the  remainder  of  the  old  law,  of  course  it  falls 
under  exactly  the  same  rule,  and  as  it  was  not  excepted, 
was  with  it  fulfilled. 

31.  It  has  been  said  that  the  instances  produced  of 
Sabbath-breaking  by  Jesus  and  his  disciples,  are  of  so 
trifling  a  nature,  that  nothing  can  be  implied  from  them. 
On  the  contrary,  they  were  evidently  done  for  the  sake 
of  agitating  the  question  of  the  Sabbath  ;   and  if  some- 
thing important  did  not  depend  upon  them,    they  are 
much  too  trifling  to  have  been  noticed  at  all.     In  each 
of  the  cases  they  are  named,  evidently  for  the  sake  of 
affording  an  opportunity,    to  record  the  expression  of 
Jesus  to  the   Pharisees,   which  came  from  him  in  the 

*  See  Matt.  v.  17. 


l8  HOR.E  SABBATIC^. 

conversation  which  followed  his  act.  The  removal  of 
the  bed  was  no  part  of  the  miracle,  and  was  totally  and 
absolutely  unnecessary,  and  directly  in  defiance  of  the 
old  law.  The  act  of  pulling  the  corn,  allowed  by  Deut. 
xxiii.  25,  was  equally  an  unnecessary  act ;  for  if  it 
belonged  to  his  disciples,  their  residence  must  have  been 
within  a  few  minutes'  walk  ;  and  if  it  did  not,  it  must 
have  been  in  the  centre  of  a  populous  country  ;  and  if  it 
were  further  than  about  one  mile  (a  Sabbath-day's 
journey)  from  the  place  where  Jesus  rested  the  preced- 
ing night,  he  must  have  been  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the 
Sabbath,  of  a  most  remarkable  and  unequivocal  descrip- 
tion, in  travelling  further  than  allowed  by  the  law  on 
the  Sabbath-day. 

32.  In  order  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  great  conse- 
quence, which  ought  to  be  attached  to  the  act  of  break- 
ing the  Sabbath  by  Jesus,  it  will  be  useful  to  consider, 
in  what  light  it  was  viewed  by  the  old  law,  and  by  the 
Jews  with  God's  approbation  :  the  reader  will  then  see, 
that  the  act  of  Jesus  must  in  him  be  considered  of  the 
first  consequence ;  not  as  a  trifle,  as  we  at  this  day  con- 
sider reaping  corn  or  moving  a  bed.  The  following 
verses  will  set  this  in  its  proper  light.  Numbers  xv. 

32.  And  while  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  the  wilderness, 
they  found  a  man  that  gathered  sticks  upon  th'e  Sabbath-day. 

33.  And  they  that  found  him  gathering  sticks  brought  him 
unto  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  unto  all  the  congregation  : 

34.  And  they  put  him  in  ward,  because  it  was  not  declared 
what  should  be  done  unto  him. 

35.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  The  man  shall  be  surely 


HOR/E    SABBATIC/E.  19 

put  to  death  :  all  the  congregation  shall  stone  him  with  stones 
without  the  camp. 

36.  And  all  the  congregation  brought  him  without  the  camp, 
and  stoned  him  with  stones,  and  he  died  ;  as  the  Lord  com- 
manded Moses. 

33.  If  the  character  of  Jesus  be  considered,  it  is  very 
absurd  to  contend,  that  any  act  of  his,  recorded  by  the 
pen  of  an  inspired  writer,  ought  to  be  lightly  estimated  : 
this  is  actual  profaneness  in  a  Christian.     It  is  incum- 
bent on  every  believer   in  his   divine   mission  to   look 
upon  each  action  of  his  life  as  an  action  recorded  for  the 
purpose  of  example,  or  of  affording  an   opportunity  of 
inculcating  some  doctrine  :  and  as  such,  the  moving  of  a 
bed,  or  travelling,  or  pulling  corn  on  the  Sabbath,  be- 
come circumstances  of  great  moment,  when  recorded  by 
the  pen  of  an  inspired  writer. 

34.  It  has  been  said,  that  Jesus  by  preaching  in  the 
synagogue  on  that  day  kept  the  Sabbath.     If  this  argu- 
ment be  good  for  any  thing,  it  shows  that  the  Saturday, 
not  the  Sunday,   ought  "to  be  kept.      But  in  fact  this 
proves  nothing  with  respect  either  to  the  Saturday  or 
Sunday  ;  for  in  preaching  on  the  Sabbath-day,  he  only 
did  what  he  did  on  every  other  day  of  the  week  ;  and  he 
evidently  went  into  the  synagogue   because  there  the 
Jews  were  collected  together.     He  was  circumcised,  and 
kept  all  the  Jewish  feasts  and  rites  of  the  old  law  (unless 
the  Sabbath  be  excepted);    then  if  the  Sabbath  ought  to 
be  kept  by  Christians  because  he  kept  it,  all  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  old  law  ought  to  be  followed,  because 
he  followed  them.     This  is  the  necessary  consequence  if 


2O  HOR^;    SABBATIC^. 

persons  reason  consistently  from  cause  to  effect.     As  Dr. 
Paley  correctly  observes, 

'  If  the  command  by  which  the  Sabbath  was  instituted  be 
binding  upon  Christians,  it  must  bind  as  to  the  day,  the  duties, 
arid  the  penalty  ;  in  none  of  which  is  it  received.' 

35.  The  fact  is,  that  his  conduct   appeared  to  be  so 
equivocal  to  many  of  the  Jewish  Christians  at  that  time, 
that  they  continued  to  observe  the  Jewish  law  with  all 
its  burthensome  rites  and  ceremonies,  until  the  council 
of  the  Apostles  at  Jerusalem,  acting  under  the  direction 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  speaking  by  the  mouth  of  St. 
Paul  to  the  citizens  of  Antioch,   abolished  the  whole 
except  four  things. 

36.  It  appears  from  chapter  the  I5th  of  the  Acts,  that 
it  was  proposed  that  the  Gentile  converts  should  observe 
the  law  of  Moses.     Upon  this  a  difference  of  opinion 
arose.     Now  there  can  be  no  doiibt  that  if  the  Sabbath, 
or  any  other  part  of  the  old  law  were  to  be  retained,  it 
would  have  been  here  expressed  :   but  the  Apostles  only 
require  from  the  Gentiles  to  observe  four  things,  which 
they  call  necessary,  and  expressly  absolve  them  from  the 
remainder;   and  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  not 
one  of  the  four  excepted. 

37.  The  Sabbath  is  a  Jewish  rite,  not  a  moral  law, 
and   every   such   rite  is   expressly   abolished.      As   the 
Decalogue,   which  is  a  part  of  the  Jewish  law,   is  not 
excepted,  and  depends  on  precisely  the  same  authority  as 
all  the  remainder,  it  must  be  held,  unless  it  be  specifically 
excepted  as  a  CODE  of  law,  to  be  abolished  also  :  and  the 


HOR.E  SABBATIC^.  21 

moral  laws  which  are  intermixed  with  the  Jewish  rites 
which  it  contains,  must  be  held  to  depend  upon  their 
own  truth  or  the  commands  of  Jesus. 

28.  For  it  hath  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  us, 
to  lay  upon  you  no  greater   burthen   than  these  necessary 
things  :  « 

29.  That  ye  abstain  from  things  offered  to  idols,  and  from 
blood,  and  from  things  strangled,  and  from  fornication  ;  from 
which  if  you  keep  yourselves,  ye  will  do  well.     Acts  xv.  28, 
also  xxi.  25. 

38.  It  is  here  worthy  of  observation,   that  the  part 
marked  in  Italics  is  no  part  of  the  Decalogue. 

39.  Again,  in  Acts  xxi.   25,   the  question  respecting 
the  observance  of  the  old  law  is  alluded  to,  and  it  is 
expressly  forbidden. 

25.  As  touching  the  Gentiles  which  believe,  we  have  written 
and  concluded,  that  they  observe  no  such  thing,  save  only 
that  they  keep  themselves  from  things  offered  to  idols,  and 
from  blood,  and  from  strangled,  and  from  fornication. 

40.  Here,  as  it  is  a  part  of  the  old  law,  it  is  actually 
expressly  forbidden.      The  Apostles,   acting  under  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  speaking  of  the  old  law 
— the  whole  of  it — say,  We  have  concluded  that  they 
observe  no  such  thing. 

41.  How  can  words  of  prohibition  be  more  clear  than 
these?     No  SUCH  THING  ;    save  only,  &c.      If  by  ex- 
planation the  Sabbath  can  be  shown  to  be  continued, 
there  is  no  expression  in  any  language  which  may  not 
be  explained  to  mean  directly  the  reverse  of  what  the 
speaker  intended. 


22  HOR^E  SABBATIC^). 

42.  This  is  quite  enough  to  decide  the  question  ;   but 
we  will  see  what  St.  Paul  thought  of  it. 

43.  Of  course  all  Christians  of  the  present  day  will 
allow,   that  where  a  doubt  shall   exist   respecting  the 
meaning  of  the  Gospels,  or  of  Jesus  himself,  if  St.  Paul 
have  expounded  it  or  explained  it,  his  authority  must 
be  conclusive  and  binding  upon  them.     In  the  following 
two  verses,    St.    Paul   has  actually  declared   that   the 
Sabbath  was  abolished : 

8.  Owe  no  man  any  thing,  but  to  love  one  another  :  for  he 
that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the  law. 

9.  For  this,  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not 
kill,  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness, 
Thou  shalt  not  covet;    and  if  there  be  any  other  command- 
ment, it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying,  namely,  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself. — Rom.  xiii,  8,  9. 

44.  If  there  be  any  other  commandment,  it  is  what? 
Not  the  observance  of  the,  or  a,   Sabbath.     How  can 
any  thing  be  clearer  than  this?     Besides,  it  is  evident 
that  in  his  letter  of  instruction  to  the  Romans,  he  would 
have  told  them  that  they  were  to  keep  a  day  in  lieu  of  it, 
if  he  had  thought  it  imperative  on  them  so  to  do.     If  St. 
Paul  be  authority,  every   commandment  in  Genesis  or 
elsewhere  in  the  Old  Testament  is  expressly  abolished. 

45.  But  in  the  following  passage  St.  Paul  goes  much 
further,  and  not  only  abolishes  the  Sabbath,  but  actually 
declares   himself  against   the   compulsory   use  of  days 
altogether  as  necessary  appendages  or  parts  of  religion. 
St.  Paul  could  not  fail  to  know  that  the  observance  of 
days  might  be  converted  to  the  purposes  of  superstition, 


SABBATIC^.  23 

the  same  as  all  other  forms  and  ceremonies  had  been  by 
some  of  the  Pharisees,  and  other  hypocritical  pretenders 
to  superior  sanctity,  to  the  exclusion  or  neglect  of  true 
devotion  and  the  moral  law. 

5.  One  man  esteemeth   one  day  above  another ;    another 
esteemeth  every  day  alike.     Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded 
in  his  own  mind. 

6.  He  that  regardeth  the  day,  regardeth  it  unto  the  Lord. 
And  he  that  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  doth  not 
regard  it. —  Rom.  xiv.  5,  6. 

46.  Here,    unless   we   distort   the    meaning  of  plain 
words,  St.  Paul  abolishes  the  compulsory  observance  of 
days,  or  states  the  observance  of  them  not  to  be  necessary  ; 
but  as  the  observance  of  certain  days  may  evidently  have 
no  guilt  in  it,   he  says,  If  you  think  it  right  to  keep 
them,  it  is  well ;    but  if  you  think  otherwise,  it  is  also 
well.     In  both  cases,  it  is  to  the  Lord,  to  use  his  mode  of 
expression. 

47.  In  the  second  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colos- 
sians,  verse  16,  is  a  passage  in  which  St.  Paul  again  ex- 
presses himself  against  the  observance  of  fixed  days,  or 
Sabbaths. 

48.  Dr.  Paley  prefaces  his  quotation  of  this  text  with 
the  following  observation  :  and  no  person  but  as  degraded 
a  fanatic  as  Johanna  Southcote,  or  the  modern  ranters, 
will  treat  the  opinion  of  the  venerable  Paley  with  dis- 
respect.    He  says, 

'  St.  Paul  evidently  appears  to  have  considered  the  Sabbath 
as  part  of  the  Jewish  ritual,  and  not  obligatory  upon  Christians.' 


24  HOR^  SABBATIC^). 

49.  If  St.  Paul  have  evidently  decided  the  question, 
surely  Christians  may  safely  rest  upon  his  authority : 
he  says, 

16.  Let  no  man  therefore  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or 
in  respect  of  an  holiday,  or  of  the  new  moon,  or  of  the  Sabbath 
days  ; 

17.  Which  are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come :  but  the  body  is 
of  Christ. 

50.  By  the  use  of  meats  or  drinks,  he  must  allude  to 
the  use  of  th'em  on  fast-days,  because  the  use  of  them  on 
other  days  no  man  ever  said  was  wrong.      The  same 
argument  must  apply  to  the  neglect  of  feast-days  regu- 
lated by  the  state  of  the  moon.     The  same  of  the  Sab- 
bath ;  for  it  is  not  maintained  that  there  was  any  guilt 
in  keeping  a  day  of  rest :  the  offence  was  in  breaking  it : 
and  here  St.  Paul  must  be  construed  to  mean,  Let  no 
man  condemn  you  for  the  breach  of  the  Sabbath.     It 
seems  absurd  to  construe  it  to  mean,  Let  no  man  con- 
demn you  because  you  choose  to  keep  a  Sabbath  or  day 
of  rest.     If  it  be  so  construed,  then  it  must  also  be  said, 
(to  be  consistent,)  Let  no  man  condemn  you  for  merely 
taking  necessary  food.     If  it  do  not  mean,  Let  no  man 
condemn  you  for  taking  meat  on  some  days  when  it  is 
forbidden,  it  is  actual  nonsense.     But  in  a  few  verses  he 
seems  to  explain  his  own  meaning. 

20.  If  ye  be  dead  with  Christ  from   the  rudiments  of  the 
world,  why,  as  though  living  in  the  world,  are  ye  subject  to 
ordinances, 

21.  (Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not: 

22.  Which  all  are  to  perish  with  the  using,)  after  the  com- 
mandments and  doctrines  of  men? 


HOR^E  SABBATIC^E.  25 

23.  Which  things  have  indeed  a  show  of  wisdom  in  will- 
worship  and  humility,  and  neglecting  of  the  body  ;  not  in 
any  honour  to  the  satisfying  of  the  flesh. 

51.  In   the   next  chapter  he  goes  on   to  direct   the 
Colossians  to  seek  those  things  which  are  above. 

Mind  the  things  above,  not  the  things  below,  &c. 

52.  The  whole  of  this  train  of  reasoning  is  consistent 
with  itself,  and  also  with  what  he  has  said  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  xiv. 

He  who  regardeth  the  day,  regardeth  it  to  the  Lord ;  and 
he  who  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  regardeth  it  not. 

53.  The  whole  of  St.   Paul's  preaching  goes  to  in- 
culcate that  the  observance  of  feasts  and  fasts  is  a  matter 
merely   optional,  and   that   the  observance  or  non-ob- 
servance of  them  is  no  offence,  and  consequently  he  is 
directly  against  the  compelling  their  observance  by  law. 

54  In  the  whole  of  the  Epistles,  there  does  not  seem 
to  be  a  single  clear,  unequivocal  passage  in  favor  of  the 
Sabbath.  In  almost  numberless  places  breakers  of  such 
of  the  commandments  as  are  in  themselves  moral  rules, 
independent  of  the  law  of  Moses,  are  condemned  in  the 
strongest  terms :  for  example,  i  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  Gal.  v. 
19 — 21.  2  Tim.  iii.  2. 

55.  But  in  not  one  of  them  is  a  Sabbath-breaker 
named.  How  does  this  happen?  The  reason  is  suffi- 
ciently plain.  The  breach  of  the  Sabbath  under  the  old 
law  was  a  breach  of  the  covenant  with  God,  and  there- 
fore a  high  offence ;  but  the  Sabbath  being  abolished, 
under  the  new  law  it  was  none. 


26  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

56.  Although  Dr.  Paley  does  not  agree  with  the  author 
entirely  respecting  the  Lord's-day,  he  makes  several  ad- 
missions, which,  coming  from  him,  are  very  important. 
He  says, 

'  A  cessation  upon  that  day  (meaning  Sunday)  from  labor, 
beyond  the  time  of  attendance  upon  public  worship,  is  not 
intimated  in  any  passage  of  the  New  Testament ;  nor  did 
Christ  or  his  Apostles  deliver,  that  we  know  of,  any  command 
to  their  disciples  for  a  discontinuance  upon  that  day  of  the 
common  offices  of  their  professions.' 

57.  Upon  this  it  may  be  observed,  neither  is  the  ne- 
cessity of  attendance   upon   public   worship  intimated 
particularly  upon  that  day,  in  preference  to  any  other. 
Nothing  is  said  upon  the  subject,  therefore  nothing  can 
be    inferred.      So    that    the   proof  of  the  necessity   of 
attendance  on  divine  worship  must  be  sought  for  else- 
where.*    In  fact,  the  non-inculcation  of  public  worship 

*In  the  four  Gospels,  no  person  can  point  out  a  single  passage 
which,  in  clear  unequivocal  terms,  directs  the  observance  of  public 
worship.  One  text  may  be  shown  where  it  is  tolerated ; 

Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  one  place,  I  will  grant  their  request. 

And  one  where  it  is  discouraged,  at  the  least,  if  it  be  not  expressly 
prohibited  ;  and  where  such  persons  as  may  not  think  it  necessary, 
are  expressly  justified  for  its  non-observance : 

5.  And  when  thon  prayest,  thon  shalt  not  be  as  the  hypocrites  are:  for  they  love  to 
pray  standing  in  the  synagogues,  and  in  the  corners  of  the  streets,  that  they  may  be  seen 
of  men.    Verily  I  say  unto  yon,  they  have  their  reward. 

6.  But  thou,  when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet ;    and  when  thon  hast  shut  thy 
door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father,  which  seeth  in  secret,  shall 
reward  thec  openly.—  Matt.  vi.  5,  6. 

Except  these  two  texts  in  the  Gospel,  the  author  knows  not  one 
which  alludes  to  public  worship ;  —  a  thing  with  pageantry,  &c.,  &c., 
as  much  abused  sometimes  by  Christians,  as  ever  it  was  by  Jews  or 
Heathens.  The  attendance  of  Jesus  in  the  synagogues  can  no  more 
be  cited  to  support  it,  than  his  observance  of  the  passover  and  other 
Jewish  rites  can  be  cited  to  support  the  rest  of  the  laws  of  Leviticus 
abolished  by  the  Acts. 


HOR.E    SABBATIC^.  2J 

in  the  passages  alluded  to  above,  proves  nothing  either 
for  or  against  it :  only  it  goes  to  prove  that  it  was  not 
particularly  ordered  on  the  first  day,  more  than  on  the 
seventh  or  any  other  day,  and  leaves  the  times  for  its 
observance  open  to  be  fixed  on  what  days  the  govern- 
ment, or  the  rulers  of  the  churches  think  proper. — What 
is  said  here  must  not  be  construed  as  a  wish  to  prohibit 
all  public  worship;  but  only  to  place  it  on  a  correct 
footing  as  a  right  of  discipline,  and  to  discourage  the 
fashionable  pharisaical  doctrine,  that  all  merit  is  included 
in  praying  in  the  synagogues,  and  at  the  corners  of  the 
streets,  and  making  long  speeches  at  Bible  Society 
meetings,  &c. 

Again,  Paley  says, '  The  opinion,  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
meant  to  retain  the  duties  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  shifting  only 
the  day  from  the  seventh  to  the  first,  seems  to  prevail  without 
sufficient  proof;  nor  does  any  evidence  remain  in  Scripture, 
(of  what,  however,  is  not  improbable)  that  the  first  day  of  the 
week  was  thus  distinguished  in  commemoration  of  our  Lord's 
resurrection.' — Mor.  Phil.  p.  337.  Ed.  8vo. 

58.  Certainly  in  Scripture  there  is  no  evidence. 

59.  In  this  view  of  the   doctrines   of  St.    Paul   the 
author  is  happy  to  have  so  learned  and  respectable  a 
divine  as  Michaelis  of  his  opinion.     And  indeed  as  the 
opinion  of  Michaelis  is  not  objected  to  by  Bishop  Marsh, 
his  translator,  in  his  usual  way  by  a  note,  where  he 
disapproves  any  thing,  the  author  seems  to  have  a  right 
to  claim  him  also. 

Michaelis,  chap.  xv.  s.  3.  says,  '  The  Epistle  to  the  Colos- 
sians  resembles  that  to  the  Ephesians,  both  in  its  contents  and 


28  HOR^E   SABBATIC^. 


in  its  language,  so  that  the  one  illustrates  the  other.  In  all 
three,  the  Apostle  shows  the  superiority  of  Christ  to  the  Angels, 
and  warns  the  Christians  against  the  worship  of  Angels.  He 
censures  the  observation  of  Sabbaths,  rebukes  those  who  forbid 
marriage,  and  the  touching  of  certain  things,  who  deliver 
commandments  of  men  concerning  meats,  and  prohibit 
them.* 

60.  Some  well-meaning  persons,    looking  about  for 
any  thing  which  might  aid  them  in  the  support  of  the 
early  prejudices  of  their  nurseries  and  education,  have 
fancied,  that  they  could  find  a  Sabbath  in  the  practice 
of  the  Apostles  of  meeting  together  on  the  first  day  of 
the  week.     This  question  we  will  now  examine,  and  see 
whether  they,  on  that  day,  did  meet,  and  if  from  these 
meetings  a  rite  of  such  prodigious  importance  as   the 
renovation  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath  can  be  inferred. 

61.  There  are  only  three  passages  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment,   which    make    mention   of  the    Apostles'    being 
assembled  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.     The  first  is 
on  the  day  of  the  resurrection,  John  xx.  19. 

19.  Then  the  same  day  at  evening,  being  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  when  the  doors  were  shut  where  the  disciples  were 

*  It  gives  the  author  great  satisfaction  to  have  an  opportunity  of 
bearing  his  humble  testimony  to  the  conduct  of  Michaelis  and  Bishop 
Marsh.  In  reading  their  works,  his  pleasure  is  never  diminished  by 
the  fear  of  wilful  misrepresentation,  economical  reasoning,  or  false 
quotation.  They  are  as  superior  to  most  of  their  predecessors  or 
cotemporaries  in  integrity,  as  they  are  in  talent.  His  Lordship  has 
been  seldom  out  of  polemical  warfare,  and  has  experienced  the  usual 
vicissitutes  of  victory  and  defeat  (the  later  for  instance  by  Gandol- 
phy);  but  conqueror  or  conquered,  he  has  never  stooped  to  the  mean- 
ness of  a  pious  fraud.  It  is  one  of  the  misfortunes  of  the  author, 
never  to  have  had  the  opportunity  either  to  speak  to  or  to  see  the 
venerable  Bishop,  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  the  bench  in  the 
present  day. 


HOR^E  SABBATIC^.  2Q 

assembled  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  came  Jesus,  and  stood  in  the 
midst  of  them. 

62.  Jesus   Christ  is  described  to  have  risen  that  day 
before  day-light  in  the  morning,  and  after  all  the  various 
events  which  in  the  course  of  the  first  part  of  that  event- 
ful day  had  happened  to  several  of  them,  it  was  very 
natural  that  they  should  assemble  together  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  confer  respecting  them,  and  to  consider  what 
was  the  proper  line  of  conduct  for  them  to  pursue.     It  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that  this  assembly  could  be  held  to 
celebrate  the  rites  of  the  religion,   before  the  Apostles 
were  all  of  them  satisfied  that  he  had  risen,  and  that  his 
body  had  not  been  stolen,  as  it  is  stated  that  some  of 
them  at  first  suspected.      The  peculiar  accidental  cir- 
cumstances evidently  caused  this  meeting  to  be  held  as 
soon  as  possible  after  the  resurrection,  and  it  would  have 
been  the  fourth  or  any  other  day,  if  Jesus  had  happened 
to  have  arisen  on  that  day. 

63.  But  it  is  necessary  to  observe,  for  the  information 
of  such  persons  as  have  not  made  the  Jewish  customs 
and  antiquities  their  study,  that  the  computation  of  time 
amongst  the  Jews  was  very  different  from  ours  ;  and  it  is 
evidently  necessary  to  consider   the  words  of  the  texts 
with  reference  to  their  customs,  not  to  ours.     Our  day 
begins  at  or  after  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  theirs  began 
at  or  after  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.     In  Genesis  it  is 
said,  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first 
day.     If  the  day  had  begun  as  ours  does,  it  would  have 
said,  The  morning  and  the  evening  were  the  first  day  ; 
and  in  Levit.  xxiii.  32,  it  is  said,  From  even  to  even  shall 


30  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

you  celebrate  your  Sabbath;  consequently,  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  began  on  Friday  evening  at  about  six  o'clock, 
and  their  supper,  or,  as  it  is  called,  their  breaking  of 
bread,  took  place  immediately  after ;  the  candles  being 
ready  lighted,  and  the  viands  being  placed  on  the  tables, 
so  that  no  work  by  the  servants  might  be  necessary ; 
and  there  they  remained  on  the  tables  till  after  six  the 
next  evening.  The  custom  of  breaking  bread  in  token 
of  amity  and  brotherly  love,  was  an  old  custom  of  the 
Jews,  something  like  the  giving  of  salt  amongst  the 
Arabians,  and  is  continued  amongst  them  to  this  day. 

64.  By  the  word  day  two  clear  and  distinct  ideas  are 
expressed  ;    it  means  the  light  part  of  the  twenty-four 
hours,   in  opposition  to  the  dark  part  of  them,  and  it 
means  the  period  itself  of  the  twenty-four  hours — one 
revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  «xis. 

65.  In  the  expression  here,  the  same  day  at  evening, 
the  word  day  must  mean,  the  day-light  part  of  the  day, 
in  opposition  to  the  dark  part  of  it  —  the  night ;  because 
Jesus  could  not  have  appeared  literally  on  the  evening  of 
the  first  day  of  the  week;   that  is,  after  six  o'clock  on 
the  Saturday  evening,  he  not  having  risen  at  that  time ; 
therefore  this  meeting,  being  probably  after  six  o'clock 
in  the  evening,   on   account  of  the  return  of  the  two 
Apostles  from  Em  mans  that  day,  the  day  of  the  resurec- 
tion,  Luke  xxiv.  30 ;   it,  in  fact,  must  have  taken  place, 
though  on  the  first  day-light  day,  a  little  before  sunset ; 
yet,  on  the  second,  not  on  the  first  Jewish  day  of  the 
week.     It  is  not  surprising  that  persons  should  find  a 
difficulty  in  clearing  their  minds  from  the  prejudices, 


HOR.E     SABBATIC^.  31 

created  by  long  habit  and  education,  respecting  the  ques- 
tion and  expression  of  the  first  day  of  the  week.  But  if 
they  will  only  give  themselves  the  trouble  carefully  to 
examine,  the  truth  must  prevail. 

66.  For  these  various  reasons,  whether  the  meeting 
named  in  John  xx.  19,  be  considered  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  or  the  second,  no  inference  in  favor  of  a  Sabbatical 
observance  of  the  Sunday  can  be  deduced  :    for  it  was 
merely  accidental  whether  it  were  the  first  day  or  the 
second. 

67.  In  the  26th  verse  of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  John, 
it  is  said, 

And  after  eight  days  again  his  disciples  were  within,  and 
Thomas  with  them. 

68.  Whether  the  meeting  above  alluded  to  was  on  the 
first  or  second  day  of  the  week,  it  does  not  seem  clear 
how  this,  the  day  after  eight  days,  should  be  the  first,  z. 
e.  the  eighth  day.     It  may  have  been  the  ninth  in  one 
case,  and  the  tenth  in  the  other ;   but  in  uo  case  can  it 
have  been  the  first  or  the  eighth  day.     If  this  passage 
meant  to  describe  the  meeting  to  have  been  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  it  would  have  said,  On  the  first  day  ; 
or,  After  several  days  ;  or,    On    the   day   after  the  Sab- 
bath.      The  expression  evidently  proves  that  it  could 
not  be  the  first. 

69.  The  next  passage,  which  is  in   the   Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  xx.  7,  is  as  follows  : 

And  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the  disciples  came 
together  to  break  bread,  Paul  preached  unto  them  (ready  to 


32  HOR^    SABBATIC^. 

depart  on  the  morrow),  and  continued  his  speech  until  mid- 
night. 

70.  As  a  learned  layman,  in  his  controversy  with  Dr. 
Priestley,  has  justly  observed  :     This  meeting,  according 
to  the  Jewish  custom,  and  form  of  language,  and  com- 
putation of  time,   could  have  taken   place  at  no  other 
time  than  after  six  o'clock  on  Saturday  evening:  there 
was  but  one  time,  viz.  the  evening  of  each  day,  when 
they  met  for  the  purpose  of  breaking  of  bread ;   and  it 
therefore  necessarily  follows,  that  the  preaching  of  Paul 
must  have  taken  place  on  the  Saturday  night,  after  six 
o'clock,  by  our  mode  of  computation,  ready  to  depart 
on  the  morrow,  at  day-break.     Surely  the  preaching  of 
Paul   on   Saturday   night,    and    his    travelling   on   the 
Sunday,  cannot  be  construed  into  a  proof  that  he  kept 
the  Sunday  as  a  Sabbath. 

71.  In  the  only  subsequent  passage  where  the  first  day 
of  the  week  is  named,  i  Cor.  xvi.  2,  the  same  gentleman 
has  shown,  that  if  any  inference  is  to  be  drawn  from  the 
words  contained  in  it,  they  go  against  the  observance  of 
it  as  a  Sabbath,  and  imply  that  a  man  on  that  day  was 
to  settle  his  accounts  of  the  week  preceding,   that  he 
might  be  able  to  ascertain  what  he  could  lay  up  in  store 
against  Paul  came. 

Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by 
him  in  store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him,  that  there  be  no 
gatherings  when  I  come. 

72.  How  can  any  one  see  in  this  verse,  a  proof  that  the 
first  day  of  the  week  was  to  be  kept  by  Christians  as  an 
obligation,  as  a  Jewish  Sabbath?     It  is  well  known  that 


HOR^E  SABBATIC^E.  33 

at  first  the  Christians  strictly  kept  the  Jewish  Sabbath  ; 
therefore  they  could  not  make  a  weekly  settlement  of 
their  accounts  till  the  day  after  the  Sabbath,  which  was 
the  first.  It  is  observed  by  the  same  learned  person,  in 
his  controversy  with  Dr.  Priestley, 

'  I  would  as  soon  misspend  my  time  in  attempting  to  prove 
that  the  sun  shone  at  noon-day,  to  a  person  who  should  persist 
in  affirming  it  to  be  then  midnight-darkness,  as  I  would  con- 
tend with  any  one  who  will  assert,  that  an  express  precept  for 
a  man  to  lay  by  money,  in  his  own  custody,  signifies  that  he 
should  deposit  it,  in  the  custody  of  another  person  :  or  who,  well 
knowing  that  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  the  hour  of  assem- 
bling together,  both  for  their  ordinary  chief  meal,  and  for  the 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  was  in  the  evening,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Jewish  day,  persists  in  maintaining,  that  a 
predication  which  St.  Luke  informs  us  took  place  at  that  par- 
ticular time,  did  not  commence  then,  but  at  an  hour  when 
they  never  assembled  for  those  purposes.  I  will,  therefore, 
only  remark,  on  the  latter  instance,  that  I  am  sorry  to  appear 
so  ignorant  to  Dr.  Priestley,  as  not  to  have  known,  that 
amongst  the  Jews,  as  in  every  other  nation,  the  word  day  was 
used  sometimes  to  denote  the  periodical  revolution  of  twenty- 
four  hours ;  at  others  to  express  day-light,  in  opposition  to 
darkness  or  night.  I  am  sure  the  force  of  my  argument  re- 
quired that  it  should  be  so  understood.  And  I  only  quoted 
the  beginning  of  Acts  iv.  to  convince  Subsidiarius,  whose  head 
seemed  to  be  prepossessed  with  modern  English  ideas,  that 
though  the  word  morrow,  or  morning,  in  our  language  signi- 
fies the  next  civil  day,  because  our  evening  and  subsequent 
morning  are  in  different  days,  yet,  amongst  the  Jews,  when 
opposed  to  the  preceding  night  or  evening,  it  meant  the  same 
civil  day ;  because,  with  them,  the  evening  and  following 
morning  were  in  the  same  day.' 

73.  The  texts  here  cited  being  disposed  of,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  observe,  that  there  is  not  the  smallest 
evidence  to  be  found,  either  positive  or  presumptive, 


34  HOR/E  SABBATIC^. 

that  the  Apostles  or  disciples  of  Jesus  considered  the 
first  day  of  the  week  in  any  way  whatever  different  from 
the  following  five. 

74.  In  the  two  first  Epistles  of  John  will  be  found 
many  passages  inculcating  obedience  to  the  command- 
ments of  God,  and  of  Jesus  in  general  terms,  and  specify- 
ing some  ordinances  as  commandments,  which  are  not 
to  be  found  in  the  Decalogue,  v.  15 :  whence  it  appears 
that  the  word   commandment   cannot  be  construed  to 
apply  exclusively  to  the  Decalogue,  or  to  mean  any  one 
commandment   in   particular ;    especially   one  like  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  that  is  not  binding  by  any 
moral  law, — one  which  must  depend  entirely,  either  in 
the  old  or  new  law,  upon  a  specific  revelation,  and  not 
upon  the  general  principles  of  morality  which  have  been 
acknowledged  in  all  ages  and  nations, — one  which  is 
actually,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  Acts,  xv.    28,  spe- 
cifically abolished  by  Jesus, — and   one   which,  by   the 
the  instances  of  the  miracle  of  the  pool  of  Bethesda  and 
the  reaping  of  the  corn,  is  also  abolished,  if  any  rule  of 
conduct  can  be  deduced  from  his  actions. 

75.  If  there  be  two  ways  of  construing  the  New  Testa- 
ment,  or  any   work  whatever,   one  of  which  makes  it 
totally  inconsistent  with  itself,  and  the  other  consistent, 
common  sense  dictates,  that  the  latter  should  be  adopted. 
Now  if  we  maintain  that  by   commandments   all   the 
Decalogue   or  the  orders   in    Leviticus   are   meant,  we 
expressly  contradict  the  passage  of  the  Acts,  where  all 
the  old  law  is  abolished  except  four  particulars,  and  we 
make   the   book   inconsistent  with   itself.       But   if  we 


HOR^E  SABBATIC^.  35 

construe  it,  that  in  this  passage  of  John  the  word  com- 
mandment only  means  these  which  are  excepted,  and 
those  given  in  addition  by  Jesus,  the  whole  is  consistent. 

76.  It  cannot  be  said  that  by  this  the  laws  of  morality 
laid  down  in  the   Decalogue  are  abolished,  because  if 
they  did  not  remain  firm  on  the  general  principles  of  the 
moral   law  of  all  nations,   yet  every   law   of  morality 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  mankind,  is  excepted  from 

•  the  abolition  in  various  places ;  for  instance,  in  i  Cor. 
vi.  9,  10,  Gal.  v.  19,  20,  2  Tim.  iii.  2,  where  particular 
parts  of  the  old  law  are  alluded  to  and  re-enacted,  and  in 
i  John  iii.  23,  iv.  21,  where  new  commandments  of 
morality  are  given  much  superior  to  some  of  the  old 
ones,  and  the  meaning  of  the  word  commandment  is 
actually  explained. 

77.  By  this  reasoning  we  are  no  longer  encumbered 
with  some  parts  of  the  Decalogue,  which,   to  say  the 
least  of  them,   it  is  not  easy  to  explain  in  a  manner 
satisfactory  to  the  minds  of  young  persons,  and  even  of 
many  serious  thinking   persons   of  more  mature  age ; 
who  find  a  difficulty  in  reconciling  their  minds  to  such 
passages  as  that  relating  to  a  jealous  God  ;    a   passage 
merely  applicable  to  the  Jews. 

78.  Some  persons  have  supposed,  that  the  word  com- 
mandments in  the  Old  Testament  necessarily  means  the 
Decalogue,  and  the  Decalogue  exclusively.      This  inter- 
pretation cannot  be  supported,  because  the  word  com- 
mandment is  used  in  its  common  or  usual  sense  as   a 
command  or  order  of  God,  before  the  Decalogue  was 
given,  as  in  Exod.  xvi.  28. 


36  HOR^  SABBATIC^. 

And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  How  long  refuse  ye  to  keep 
my  commandments  and  my  laws? 

79.  The  pious  Christian  will  not  forget,  that  the  moral 
law  is  not  entirely  dependent  either  on  the  law  of  Moses 
or  of  Christ ;   though  they  have  confirmed  it,  yet  it  was 
binding  on  all   mankind   before  Moses   or  Jesus   were 
either  of  them  born.     Although  there  were  no  Jews  or 
Christians,  can  it  be  supposed  that  the  moral  law,  the  law 
of  right  and  wrong,  was  unknown  to  Abraham  and  the 
patriarchs  before  him?    This  would  indeed  be  absurd 
enough.     It  must  be  also  recollected,  that  the  whole  law 
of  morality  is  not  contained  in  the  Decalogue  ;   and  yet 
the  breach  of  this  law,  although  in  instances  where  it  is 
not  named  in  that  code,  is  a  sin,  both  to  Jews  and  others. 

80.  Nor  will  a  man  be  held  blameless  if  he  keep  all 
the  laws  of  the  Decalogue,  and  commit  some  sins  not 
therein  named.      For  there  are  several   HEINOUS  SINS 
not  named  in  that  code.     All  the  sins  against  the  moral 
law    prohibited   in   the   Decalogue,  and   several    others 
therein  not  named,  are  forbidden  by  Jesus  and  Paul  over 
and  over  again.     Therefore,  as  a  code  of  law,  what  loss 
can  the  abolition  of  the  Decalogue  be?     Is  not  the  new 
law  which  God  delivered  by  Jesus,  as  binding  as  that 
delivered  by  Moses  ? 

81.  It  is  well  known  that  the  version  of  the  Pentateuch 
called   the   Septuagint,  was   anciently   translated    from 
the  Hebrew  into  the  Greek  language,  by  certain  Jews, 
either  for  the  use  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphia,  or  of  their 
countrymen  residing  at  Alexandria.     When  these  persons 
came  to  the  translation  of  the  word  Jehovah,  they  found 


HOR;£    SABBATIC^.  37 

themselves  in  a  difficulty  ;  for  it  was  an  acknowledged 
doctrine  of  their  religion,  never  disputed  by  any  of  their 
prophets  or  priests,  that  this  name,  by  which  God  had 
thought  proper  to  designate  himself  in  the  third  verse  of 
the  sixth  chapter  of  Exodus,  ought  never  to  be  written 
or  spoken  upon  any  occasion,  except  the  most  awful  and 
important.  And  it  is  the  use  or  abuse  of  this  particular 
name  of  God,  to  which  the  Jews  always  understood  the 
command  of  the  Decalogue  to  apply,  which  we  render  by 
the  words,  Thou  shall  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy 
God  in  vain.  But  which  ought  to  be  rendered,  Thou 
shalt  not  take  the  name  #/"  JEHOVAH  thy  God  in  vain. 
This  word,  Jehovah,  was  inscribed  on  the  golden  plate 
on  the  forehead  of  the  High-priest,  when  he  entered  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  and  also  on  his  breast  plate  :  and  lest  it 
should  suffer  any  change,  it  was  written  in  the  Samaritan 
letters,  those  in  which  the  Pentateuch  was  originally 
written,  and  from  which  it  was  translated  into  Hebrew 
by  Ezra,  after  the  Captivity.  In  the  time  of  St.  Jerom, 
it  still  continued  written  in  many  Hebrew  and  Greek 
Bibles  in  the  Samaritan  character.  When  the  Jews 
came  to  this  word  in  their  translation,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  profaneness  of  writing  it  literally,  they  adopted  the 
word  A'Jptog,  or  Lord  ;  and  thus  got  over  the  difficulty.  But 
this  contrivance  does  not  in  any  way  alter  the  nature  of 
the  command  of  the  Decalogue,  which  still  continues  in 
all  its  original  force  applicable  to  the  Jews,  and  to  all 
Christians  too,  if  they  maintain  the  Decalogue  to  be 
excepted  from  the  abolition  of  the  other  commandments 
of  God  in  Exodus  and  Leviticus.  Christians  say  this 


38  HOR^;  SABBATIC/E. 

interpretation  of  the  word  is  only  an  idle  superstition  of 
the  Jews.  It  is  no  more  idle  superstition  to  them,  than 
is  the  prohibition  to  sow  blended  corn,  or  plough  with 
an  ox  yoked  to  an  ass.  It  is  an  idle  superstition  to  the 
Christian,  because  Jesus  abolished  it  in  not  excepting  it. 
If  Jesus  did  not  abolish  the  Decalogue  as  a  code  of  law, 
then  we  must  no  more  write  the  word  Jehovah  :  for  the 
Decalogue  applies  solely  to  the  use  of  the  word  Jehovah, 
and  not  to  our  disgraceful  and  odious  habit  of  profane 
swearing,  to  which  our  modern  translators  have  applied 
it.  Does  the  considerate  and  unprejudiced  Christian 
really  think,  that  Jesus  intended  this  doctrine  respecting 
the  use  of  the  word  Jehovah  to  be  continued  by  Chris- 
tians? What  has  been  said  respecting  the  word  Jehovah 
in  the  Decalogue  cannot  be  disputed  ;  and  when  Chris- 
tian priests  call  the  construction  given  to  it  by  the  Jews 
an  idle  superstition,  they  surely  can  neither  be  praised 
for  their  piety  nor  for  their  prudence.  The  reverence 
for  the  peculiar  name  Jehovah  commanded  to  the  Jews, 
was  one  of  those  things  not  intended  to  be  continued 
under  the  Christian  dispensation,  and  therefore  was  not 
excepted  by  Jesus,  when  he  was  abolishing  the  Jewish 
code.  And  the  very  circumstance  shows  that  the  Deca- 
logue as  a  code  of  law  was  not  intended  to  be  continued. 
In  translating  the  Old  Testament,  Christians  do  wrong 
in  not  translating  the  word  Jehovah  literally.  The  Jews 
were  not  only  excusable  in  translating  it  by  the  word 
Lord,  but  they  would  have  been  sinful  if  they  had  trans- 
lated it  literally. 

82.   Persons  must  not  entertain  the  idea,  that  because 


SABBATIC^E.  39 

the  ten  laws  in  the  Decalogue  were  intended  solely  for 
the  Jews,  the  laws  of  morality  were  not  binding  upon 
others.  They  were  bound  by  them  just  as  much  as  if 
the  Decalogue  had  never  been  promulgated.  If  the 
Decalogue  AS  A  CODE  of  law  were  binding  upon  trie- 
Gentiles,  then  were  they  bound  to  keep  the  Sabbath  ; 
and  surely  no  one  can  pretend  that  that  was  ever 
intended,  or  that  a  single  word  in  all  the  Bible  can  be 
shown  expressive  of  disapprobation  of  the  conduct  of 
the  Gentiles  in  not  keeping  it.  Persons  reasoning 
correctly,  must  remember  that  the  observance  of  a 
Sabbath  is  not  a  moral  law,  but  a  rite  of  discipline. 

83.  The  Decalogue  was  no  more  binding  on  the  Jews, 
than  any  other  of  God's  commands.     There  can  be  no 
distinction  or  preference  of  one   command   to  another. 
All  the  commands  of  God  are  alike  entitled  to  instant 
unqualified  obedience.     Nor  can  any  doctrine  so  contrary 
to  the  character  of  God,  be  deduced  from  the  giving  of 
the  Decalogue  by  him  to  the  Jews,  as  that,  of  one  com- 
mand being  more  worthy  of  obedience  than  another. 

84.  The  state  of  the  case  with  the  Decalogue  is  pre- 
cisely like  what  often  takes  place  with  the  English  law. 
The  Parliament,  for  reasons  sometimes  good  and  some- 
times bad,  passes  a  declaratory  act  to  declare  what  the 
law  is,  or  perhaps  to  increase  the  penalties  for  an  offence. 
This  act  then  becomes  a  part  of  the  English  code.     It 
afterward  passes  an  act  to  repeal  this  act ;   by  this  the 
law  reverts  to  its  original  state,  as  if  no  such  act  had 
ever  been  passed.     This  was  the  case  with  respect  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ;  an  act  was  passed  to  declare  or 


40  HOR.E  SABBATIC^. 

to  increase  the  penalties  for  impugning  it ;  that  act  has 
been  repealed  ;  but  the  judges  have  declared,  that  though 
that  act  has  been  repealed,  it  is  still,  at  common  law,  an 
offence  to  impugn  the  Trinity,  and  that  it  is  punishable 
by  them.  Thus,  when  the  Decalogue  as  a  code  of  law 
was  abrogated,  the  laws  of  morality  reverted  to  exactly 
what  they  were  in  the  time  of  Abraham  ;  and  as  such 
they  remain  to  Christians,  unless  Jesus  added  any  thing 
to  them  ;  and  this  we  know  that  he  did  ;  for  he  expressly 
says,  A  new  commandment  give  I  unto  you,  L,OVE  ONE 

ANOTHER. 

85.  At  this  day  no  Christians  will  maintain  that  the 
laws  of  Moses  are  any  longer  obligatory  upon  them  ; 
and  yet  Jesus  has  not  expressly  made  any  declaration  to 
that  effect.     He  obeyed  them  all  strictly,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  that  law  relating  to  the  Sabbath  which  he 
took  various  opportunities  of  violating ;    and  most  ab- 
surdly, this  is  the  only  part  of  the  ceremonial,  or  not 
strictly  moral  law,  which  is  now  attempted  to  be  retained 
by  the  modern  Pharisees.     His  doctrine  was  so  equivo- 
cal respecting  the  old  law,  that  the  Apostles  themselves 
did  not  understand  it,  even  after  they  had  received  the 
Holy  Spirit.     For  we  find  the  inspired  Peter  defending 
the  old  Jewish  law  at  Antioch  ;  and  this  must  have  been 
many  years  after  the  death  of  Jesus  ;  because  the  Apostles 
remained  at  Jerusalem  some  years  before  they  separated 
on  their  missions  to  the   Gentiles,  if  the  early  fathers 
are  to  be  believed,  twelve  years. 

86.  If  there  be  yet  any  persons  who  believe  that  the 
Sabbath  was  not  abolished  by  Jesus   Christ,  they  arc 


SABBATIC^.  41 

requested  to  observe,  that  they  are  bound  to  keep  it  as 
the  Jews  kept  it ;  they  can  neither  light  a  fire  nor  cook 
meat  on  the  Sabbath  ;  and  for  the  punishment  to  which 
they  render  themselves  liable,  if  they  do,  they  are  refer- 
red to  Numbers  xv.  32 — 36,  as  previously  quoted. 

32.  And  while  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  the  wilderness, 
they  found  a  man  that  gathered  sticks  upon  the  Sabbath-day. 

33.  And  they  that  found  him  gathering  sticks  brought  him 
unto  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  unto  all  the  congregation  : 

34.  And  they  put  him  in  ward,  because  it  was  not  declared 
what  should  be  done  unto  him. 

35.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  The  man  shall  be  surely 
put  to  death :  all  the  congregation  shall  stone  him  with  stones 
without  the  camp. 

36.  And  all  the  congregation  brought  him  without  the  camp, 
and  stoned  him  with  stones,  and  he  died ;  as  the  Lord  com- 
manded Moses. 


HOR/E    SABBATIC^. 

PART  II. 


HOR/E    SABBATICTE. 

PART  II. 


FROM  the  following  verse  in  the  second  chapter  of 
Genesis :     '  And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and 
sanctified  it ;   because  that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all 
the  work  which  God  created  and  made.' 

2.  Many  persons  have  maintained,  that  the  Sabbath 
was  instituted  at  the  creation,  and  therefore  that  it  is 
binding  on  all  mankind,  and  not  confined  to  the  Jews. 
This  would  seem  a  fair  inference,  if  the  contrary  were 
not  expressly  declared ;  and  therefore  the  book  of  Genesis 
must  be  considered  to  have  been  written,  by  Moses 
writing  the  account  two  thousand  five  hundred  years  after 
the  event,  proleptically.  *  And  it  is  a  very  strong  cir- 
cumstance in  favor  of  this,  that  it  cannot  be  shown  from 
the  sacred  books,  that  any  one  of  the  Patriarchs  before 
the  flood,  or  after  it,  ever  kept  a  Sabbath,  or  that  it  ever 
was  kept,  until  ordered  by  Moses  on  the  journey  of  the 
Israelites  from  Egypt  to  Sinai.  If  the  first  Patriarchs 

had  kept  it,  in  the  history  of  more  than  two  thousand 
*  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy. 

(45) 


46  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

five  hundred  years,  from  Adam  to  Moses,  it  must  have 
been  noticed  or  alluded  to.  The  lives  and  domestic 
transactions  of  Noah  and  his  family,  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  and  Joseph,  are  very  particularly  described ;  but 
not  a  single  word  is  ever  said  of  their  keeping  a  Sabbath, 
or  censure  upon  them  for  neglecting  it,  or  permission  for 
them  in  Egypt,  or  elsewhere,  to  dispense  with  it.  Upon 
the  meaning  of  the  above  passage  of  Genesis,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Paley  says : 

'Although  the  blessing  and  sanctification,  i.  e.  the  religious 
distinction  and  appropriation  of  that  day,  was  not  actually 
made  till  many  ages  afterwards.  The  words  do  not  assert, 
that  God  then  'blessed'  and  'sanctified'  the  seventh  day;  but 
that  he  blessed  and  sanctified  it  for  that  reason:  and  if  any 
ask,  why  the  Sabbath,  or  sanctification  of  the  seventh  day,  was 
then  mentioned,  if  it  was  not  then  appointed,  the  answer  is  at 
hand ;  the  order  of  connection,  and  not  of  time,  introduced  the 
mention  of  the  Sabbath,  in  the  history  of  the  subject  which  it 
was  ordained  to  commemorate.' 

3.  When  the  author  of  Genesis  was  giving  an  account 
of  the  orders  of  God  to  Adam  to  erect  a  tabernacle,  or 
place  of  worship,  to  the  east  of  Eden — to  Cain  and  Abel  to 
offer  sacrifice — to  Noah  also  to  sacrifice  when  coming  out 
of  the  ark,  and  to  the  latter  to  abstain  from  eating  blood, 
&c. ;  and  when  he  was  describing  the  institution  of  cir- 
cumcision, and  the  paying  of  tithes  by  Abraham,  he 
would  certainly  have  said  something  respecting  the  Sab- 
bath if  it  had  been  then  instituted.  For  of  all  the  rites 
and  ceremonies,  there  was  not  one  of  any  thing  like  the 
importance  of  this  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  world,  either 
before  or  after  the  flood. 


SABBATIC^.  47 

4.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to  remove  the  objection 
which  arises  from  the  omission  of  any  notice  of  the  Sab- 
bath, by  the  writer  of  the  Pentateuch,  before  the  time  of 
Moses,  by  observing  that  the  very  notoriety  of  a  custom 
may  be  the  reason  why  it  is  never  named  :   and  as  an 
example  of  this  kind,  the  circumstance  of  circumcision 
never  having  been  named,  from  the  settlement  of  the 
Israelites  in  Canaan  down  to  the  circumcision  of  Jesus 
Christ,   has  been  produced.       But  this  argument,    the 
whole  of  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Genesis  completely 
refutes.     All  the  circumstances  there  detailed,  evidently 
show  that  it  had  not  been  commonly  used  before  that 
time.      If  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  had  been  a 
common  thing,  like  the  observance  of  circumcision,  it 
would  have  been  named  without  further  notice,  as  cir- 
cumcision is  named  when  Jesus  was  circumcised.     The 
difference  in  the  treatment  of  the  two  cases  is  decisively 
in  favor  of  the  author's  argument.     When  the  circum- 
cision of  Jesus  is   named,  the  history  of  circumcision  is 
not  given  as  the   history  of  the  Sabbath  is  given  in 
Exodus.     If  circumcision  had  been  then  first  instituted, 
its  history  would  have  been  given.     And  the  reason  why 
it  was  not  named  in  the  interval  alluded  to  was  this, 
that  there  was  no  occasion  for  it,  as  it  was  universally 
practised  during  all  that  time,  both  by  Jews  and  the 
other  nations.     The  reason  why  the  Sabbath  was  not 
named  as  being  kept  by  the  Patriarchs  was,  because  it 
was  not  kept  by  them,  and  they  knew  nothing  about  it. 

5.  Archbishop  Magee  says,  note  57,  on  the  Doc.  of 
At. :  "But  in  what  way  is  the  divine  appointment  of  the 


48  HORJE  SABBATICLE. 

Sabbath  recorded?  Is  it  any  where  asserted  by  Moses, 
that  God  had  ordered  Adam  and  his  posterity  to  dedicate 
every  seventh  day  to  holy  uses,  and  to  the  worship  of  his 
name ;  or  that  they  ever  did  so,  in  observance  of  any 
such  command?  No  such  thing.  It  is  merely  said, 
that  having  rested  from  the  work  of  creation,  God  blessed 
the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it.  Now,  so  far  is  this 
passage  from  being  universally  admitted  to  imply  a 
command  for  the  sacred  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  that 
some  have  altogether  denied  the  Sabbath  to  have  been 
instituted  by  divine  appointment :  and  the  Fathers  in 
general,  and  especially  Justin  Martyr,  have  been  con- 
sidered as  totally  rejecting  the  notion  of  a  patriarchal 
Sabbath.  But  although,  especially  after  the  very  able 
and  learned  investigation  of  this  subject  by  Dr.  Kennicot 
in  the  second  of  his  two  dissertations,  no  doubt  can 
reasonably  be  entertained  of  the  import  of  this  passage, 
as  relating  the  divine  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  yet 
still  the  rapidity  of  the  historian  has  left  this  rather  as 
matter  of  inference :  and  it  is  certain,  that  he  has  no 
where  made  express  mention  of  the  observance  of  a 
Sabbath,  until  the  time  of  Moses." 

6.  Mr.  Beausobre,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  New 
Testament,  expressly  allows,  and  gives  his  reasons  for 
believing,  that  the  Sabbath  was  not  instituted  till  the 
time  of  Moses.  He  admits  also,  that  when  it  was  insti- 
tuted, it  was  a  festival,  not  a  fast ;  and  he  points  out  the 
circumstance  of  Jesus  going  to  a  feast  on  that  day,  Luke 
xiv.  i.  He  asserts  that  it  was  given  as  a  sign  of  the 
covenant ;  and  was  limited  to  one  people,  the  Jews.  He 


HOR.E  SABBATIC^.  49 

shows  that  the  conduct  of  Jesus  on  the  Sabbath  places  it 
on  the  same  footing  as  the  other  Jewish  ceremonies.  He 
allows,  that  in  Genesis  the  sanctifying  the  Sabbath-day 
was  spoken  by  way  of  anticipation.  He  says,  feastings 
and  rejoicings  were  also  thought  essential  to  the  Sabbath, 
according  to  Philo,  Josephus,  and  the  Thalmudists. — 
Beaus.  Int.  Parti,  p.  193,  &c.  *  He  further  says, 

'  The  account  of  the  creation  was  not  given  till  after  the 
coming  of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  with  a  design  to 
turn  them  from  idolatry  and  the  worshipping  of  creatures. 
Moses  takes  from  thence  an  occasion  of  giving  them  to  under- 
stand, that  this  is  the  reason  why  God  hath  sanctified  the 
seventh  day,  and  appointed  this  festival,  to  be  by  them  cele- 
brated every  week.  Upon  this  supposition,  the  sanctifying  of 
the  Sabbath  does  not  relate  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  where 
we  find  it  mentioned,  but  to  after  ages. — Ibid. 

7.  If  the  expression  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis 
had  been  understood  by  Moses  or  any  of  the  Prophets  to 
be  applicable  to  all  mankind,  when  they  were  reproach- 
ing the  Gentiles  for  their  sins  in  innumerable  instances, 
and  enumerating  their  offences  seriatim,  (to  warn  the 
Israelites  against  them,)  they  would  some  time  or  other 
have  reproached  them  for  their  neglect  of  the  Sabbath. 
The  Bible  is  almost  filled  with  the  reproachings  of  the 
Israelites  for  their  imitations  of  the  vices  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  for  their  neglect  of  the  Sabbath  :  but  in  no  one 
instance  is  it  ever  hinted,  that  the  neglect  of  the  Sabbath 
was-one  of  these  examples  of  imitation.  It  also  is  quite 

"This  book  is  peculiarly  used  as  a  lecture  book,  by  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  aud  therefore  it  is  fair  to  conclude,  that  this  learned 
body,  in  which  several  of  our  most  learned  bishops  are  inchided,  has 
no  objection  to  its  doctrines. 


5O  HOR^E  SABBATIC^E. 

incredible,  that  the  Gentiles  should  not  have  been  even 
once  reproached,  for  the  neglect  of  this  very  important 
rite,  if  it  had  been  considered  applicable  to  them  ;  and  if 
it  were  not  applicable  to  them,  it  evidently  cannot  be 
applicable  to  us. 

8.  We  will  now  proceed  to  examine  the  passages  in  the 
Old  Testament  relating  to  this  subject. 

9.  In  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Exodus  the  Sabbath  is 
first  instituted  ;   as  it  is  said  in  the  fourth  verse,  in  order 
that  the  Lord  might  know  whether  the  Israelites  would 
walk  in  his  way  or  not.     And  in  the  fifth  verse  it  is  said, 
that  twice  as  much  manna  was  sent  on  the  sixth  day  as 
on  other  days.     In  the  twenty-second  and  twenty-third 
verses,  the  rulers  come  to  Moses  for  an  explanation  of 
the  reason  of  the  double  quantity  coming  on  the  sixth 
day ;  and  then  Moses  explains  to  them  that  the  seventh 
day  is  to  be  a  Sabbath,  or  day  of  rest ;  but  he  there  gives 
them  no  reason  why  the  seventh  day  was  fixed  on,  rather 
than  the  sixth  or  any  other  day  ;  and  in  this  chapter  it 
is  merely  stated  to  be  ordered  to  try  them  if  they  would 
walk  in  the  way  of  the  Lord  or  not. 

22.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  on  the  sixth  day  they  gathered 
twice  as  much  bread,   two  omers  for   one  man :    and  all  the 
rulers  of  the  congregation  came  and  told  Moses. 

23.  And  he  said  unto  them,  This  is  that  which  the  Lord  hath 
said,  To-morrow  is  the  rest  of  the  holy  Sabbath  unto  the  Lord : 
bake  that  which  ye  will  bake  to-day,  and  seethe  that  ye  will 
seethe ;    and  that  which  remaineth  over  lay  up  for  you  to  be 
kept  until  the  morning. 

24.  And  they  laid  it  up  till  the  morning,  as  Moses  bade  ;  and 
it  did  not  stink,  neither  was  there  any  worm  therein. 


SABBATlC^t.  5! 

25.  And  Moses  said,  Eat  that  to-day  ;  for  to-day  is  a  Sab- 
bath unto  the  Lord  :  to-day  ye  shall  not  find  it  in  the  field. 

26.  Six  days  ye  shall  gather  it ;    but  on  the  seventh  day, 
which  is  the  Sabbath,  in  it  there  shall  be  none. 

27.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  there  went  out  some  of  the 
people  on  the  seventh  day  for  to  gather,  and  they  found  none. 

28.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  How  long  refuse  ye  to 
keep  my  commandments  and  my  laws  ? 

29.  See,  for  that  the  Lord  hath   given    you  the  Sabbath, 
therefore  he  giveth  you  on  the  sixth  day  the  bread  of  two  days: 
abide  ye  every  man  in  his  place  ;  let  no  man  go  out  of  his  place 
on  the  seventh  day. 

30.  So  the  people  rested  on  the  seventh  day. 

TO.  In  several  places  of  the  quotation  above,  a  mis- 
translation has  taken  place ;  the  definite  or  emphatic 
article  has  been  used  instead  of  the  indefinite  one.  Thus, 
in  the  twenty-third  verse  it  is  said,  the  rest  of  the  holy 
Sabbath,  instead  of  a  rest  of  a  holy  Sabbath.  Again,  in 
the  twenty-sixth  verse  it  ought  to  have  been  said,  on  the 
seventh  day,  which  is  a  Sabbath,  in  it,  &c.,  not  the 
Sabbath,  &c. 

ii.  In  the  twenty-ninth  verse  the  emphatic  or  definite 
article  is  correctly  used,  the  Sabbath,  according  to  the 
Hebrew  text,  the  Sabbath  being  there  spoken  of  as 
instituted.  The  author  has  been  the  more  particular  in 
the  examination  of  these  texts,  because  he  has  met  with 
several  clergymen,  not  learned  in  the  Hebrew  language, 
who  have  maintained,  that  from  the  use  of  the  emphatic 
article  in  the  places  in  question,  a  previous  establish- 
ment, and  an  existerce  of  the  Sabbath  must  be  neces- 
sarily inferred.  But  the  fact  is,  that  the  contrary  infer- 


52  UORM  SABBATICE. 

ence  must  be  drawn  from  the  Hebrew  text :  and  no 
Hebrew  scholar  will  doubt  a  moment  on  the  correctness 
of  what  is  said  respecting  the  Hebrew  definite  article. 
It  is  not  one  of  the  points  of  this  language  about  which 
there  has  been  ly  dispute. 

12.  If  this  related  merely  to  the  common  affairs  of  life, 
no  one  would  doubt  that  the  coming  of  the  rulers"  of  the 
congregation  to  Moses  showed  clearly  that  they  were 
ignorant  of  the  Sabbath  —  that  they  had  never  heard  of 
such  a  thing  before:  for  if  they  had  known  that  it  was 
unlawful  to  provide  food,  or  gather  sticks  to  light  a  fire 
to  cook  it,  or  to  do  any  other  act  of  work  or  labor,  how 
could  they  have  had  any  doubt  what  the  double  quantity 
was  sent  for  on  the  day  before  the  Sabbath?  And  the 
answer  given  by  Moses  in  the  next  verse,  This  is  what 
the  Lord  hath  said,  implies  that  the  information  given 
to  them  was  new.  If  the  practice  of  keeping  the  Sab- 
bath had  prevailed  with  the  Israelites  when  in  Egypt  in 
their  bondage,  (a  thing  very  unlikely,)  or  if  it  had  been 
known  to  them  that  it  was  their  duty  to  keep  it  when  in 
their  power,  the  book  would  simply  have  told  us,  that 
they  gathered  twice  as  much  on  the  sixth  day,  because 
the  next  was  the  Sabbath  ;  there  would  have  been  no 
coming  together  of  the  elders,  or  of  speech-making  by 
Moses.  Besides,  the  text  says,  that  it  was  ordered  here 
to  try  them,  whether  they  would  walk  in  the  way  of 
Jehovah  at  this  particular  time  or  not.  This  is  directly 
contrary  to  the  idea  of  its  being  an  established  ordinance 
from  the  creation.  It  was  here  given  as  a  test  of  their 
obedience — it  was  continued  afterwards,  as  a  sign  of  the 


HOR^E    SABBATIC^.  53 

covenant  entered  into  betwixt  God  and  them.  Nor  is 
there  any  where  an  intimation,  that  the  appointment  of 
the  Sabbath  was  the  renewal  of  an  ancient  institution, 
which  had  been  neglected,  forgotten,  or  suspended. 

13.  In  the  Decalogue  which  is  ordained  in  the  twenti- 
eth chapter  of  Exodus,  the  Sabbath  is  first  given  in  all 
its  plenitude  ;  but  it  is  with  the  remainder  of  the  Deca- 
logue expressly  limited  to  the  children  of  Israel.     God 
begins  with  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  thy*  God,  which  have 
brought  thce  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house 
of  bondage.     Here  he  calls  the  Israelites  thee;  and  he 
goes  on  throughout  the  whole  addressing  them  in  the 
second  person  singular,  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  Gods 
but  me,  &c.     If  the  language  is  to  bear  its  common  and 
usual  signification,  the  law  as  here  given  is  limited  to 
the  Israelites.     Upon  the  meaning  of  this  passage  may 
be  applied,  the  very  excellent  rule  of  criticism  laid  down 
by  Bishop  Horsley  in  his  controversy  with  Dr.  Priestley. 

'  It  is  a  principle  with  me,  that  the  true  sense  of  any  phrase 
in  the  New  Testament  is  what  may  be  called  its  standing  sense, 
that  which  will  be  the  first  to  occur  to  common  people  of  every 
country  and  in  every  age.'  —  Horsley  to  Priestley,  p.  23;  Priest- 
ley's Letters  to  Horsley,  p.  289. 

14.  In  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Exodus,  at  the  tenth 
verse,  the  emphatic  or  definite  article  has  been  substituted 
for  the  indefinite  one,  the  same  as  has  been  done  in  the 
sixteenth  chapter,  as  was  before  shown. 

*Tlie  pronoun  is  here  very  correctly  translated  from  the  Hebrew  : 
it  is  precisely  as  it  is  in  English.  Not,  the  Lord  God.  as  lie  is  usually 
called,  but,  the  Lord  THV  (}<>d.  But  it  \vould  have  been  still  more 
correct  to  have  said.  Jehvonk  thy  God,  instead  of.  the  Lord  tliy  God. 


54  HORJE  SABBATIC^. 

15.  In  this  place,  where  it  means  to  describe  that  the 
seventh  day  is  to  be  a  day  of  rest,  it  says,  a  Sabbath  : 
but  where  it  has  reference  to  what  had  passed  before,  viz. 
to  its  previous  institution,  it  says,  the  Sabbath.     This  is 
all   consistent   with   the   arguments   of  the   gentlemen 
before  referred  to.      When  the  text  is  correctly  trans- 
lated,   their  arguments  are   in    fact   decisively   against 
themselves.  * 

16.  Again,  the  Sabbath  is  ordained,  in  the  thirty-first 
chapter  of  Exodus  and  fourteenth  verse  ;   and  it  is  here 
again   expressly   limited  to  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
declared  to  be  for  a  sign  of  the  covenant.     God  says,  it 
is  holy  unto  you,  not  unto  all  the  world.     Again,  he  says, 

Wherefore  the  children  of  Israel  (not  all  mankind)  shall 
keep,  &c. ,  for  a  perpetual  covenant,  &c.  It  is  a  sign  betwixt 
me  and  the  children  of  Israel  for  ever. 

17.  How  can  more  clear  words  of  limitation  be  used? 
And  Dr.  Paley  says, 

'  It  docs  not  seem  easy  to  understand  how  the  Sabbath  could 
be  a  sign  between  God  and  the  people  of  Israel,  unless  the 
observance  of  it  was  peculiar  to  that  people,  and  designed  to 
be  so.' 

*The  Hebrew  is  remarkable  for  its  brevity,  and  words  are  often 
obliged  to  be  inserted  to  make  sense  in  our  language;  in  almost  in- 
numerable places  the  helping  verb  is  obliged  to  be  added.  Thus  in  the 
tenth  verse  it  is  said,  but  the  seventh  day  is.  There  is  no  authority  in 
the  Hebrew  for  the  word  i«.  The  literal  translation  of  the  words  is, 
but  the  seventh  day  a  Sabbath  The  helping  verb  is  here  evidently  want- 
ing; and  it  must  be  discovered  from  the  context  what  part  of  the 
verb  must  be  used  It  is  submitted  to  the  Hebrew  scholar,  whether 
it  would  not  be  perfectly  justifiable  in  this  case  to  use  the  words  will 
be,  or  shall  be?  and  write,  But  the  seventh  day  shall  be  a  (day  of  rest) 
Sabbath  This  would  strengthen  the  argument.  It  is  not  of  any  con- 
sequence. But  no  one  could  say  it  was  mistranslated,  if  it  said,  The 
seventh  day  shall  be  a  Sabbath 


SABBATIC^.  55 

13.  Speak  thou  also  unto  the   children  of  Israel,   saying, 
Verily  my  Sabbaths  ye  shall  keep  :  for  it  is  a  sign  between  me 
and  you  throughout  your  generations;  that  ye  may  know  that 
I  am  the  Lord  that  doth  sanctify  you. 

14.  Ye  shall  keep  the  Sabbath  therefore;  for  it  is  holy  unto 
you:    every  one  that  defileth  it  shall  surely  be  put  to  death : 
for  whosoever  doeth  any  work  therein,  that  soul  shall  be  cut 
off  from  among  his  people. 

15.  Six  days  may  work  be  done  ;  but  in  the  seventh  is  the 
Sabbath  holy  to  the  Lord  :  whosoever  doeth  any  work  in  the 
Sabbath-day,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death. 

1 6.  Wherefore  the  children  of  Israel  shall  keep  the  Sabbath, 
to  observe  the  Sabbath   throughout  their  generations,   for  a 
perpetual  covenant. 

17.  It  is  a  sign  between  me  and  the  children  of  Israel  for 
ever:  for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  on 
the  seventh  day  he  rested,  and  was  refreshed. 

1 8.  In  the  fcmrteenth  verse  God  does  not  say  that  it  is 
holy,  but  it  is  holy  unto  you.     A  clear  limitation  to  the 
children  of  Israel. 

Exod.  xxxiv.  28. —  And  he  was  there  with  the  Lord  forty 
days  and  forty  nights  ;  he  did  neither  eat  bread  nor  drink 
water.  And  he  wrote  upon  the  tables  the  words  of  the  covenant, 
the  ten  commandments. 

19.  How,  after  reading  these  passages,  can  any  one 
deny,   that  the  Decalogue  was  given  as  a  sign  of  the 
covenant  betwixt  God  and  the  Israelites?  and  it  seems 
to  follow,   that   when  the    covenant    was   fulfilled,   the 
sign  was  abolished. 

20.  Upon  the  reason  assigned  in  Exodus  for  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Sabbath,  Dr.  Paley  justly  observes  : 

"  It  may  be  remarked,  that  although  in  Exodus  the  com- 
mandment is  founded  upon  God's  rest  from  the  creation,  in 


56  UORM  SABBATIC^. 

Deuteronomy  the  commandment  is  repeated  with  a  reference 
to  a  different  event.  '  Six  days  shall  thou  labour,  and  do 
all  thy  work  ;  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord 
thy  God  ;  in  it  thou  shall  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son, 
nor  thy  daughler,  nor  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maid-servanl, 
nor  thine  ox,  nor  thine  ass,  nor  any  of  thy  cattle,  nor  the 
stranger  that  is  within  thy  gales  ;  lhat  thy  man-servant  and 
thy  maid-servanl  may  resl  as  well  as  ihou.  And  remember 
thou  wast  servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  lhal  ihe  Lord  ihy 
God  brought  ihee  oul  ihence,  ihrough  a  mighly  hand,  and  by 
a  slrelched-oul  arm  :  therefore  ihe  Lord  ihy  God  commanded 
thee  to  keep  the  Sabbath-day.'  It  is  farther  observable,  thai 
God's  resl  from  ihe  crealion  is  proposed  as  the  reason  of  the 
institulion,  even  where  ihe  inslitution  ilself  is  spoken  of  as 
peculiar  to  the  Jews.  '  Wherefore  ihe  children  of  Israel  shall 
keep  ihe  Sabbalh,  lo  observe  ihe  Sabbalh  ihroughoul  iheir 
generalions,  for  a  perpelual  covenanl.  //  is  a  sign  between  me 
and  ihe  children  of  Israel  for  ever :  for  in  six  days  the  Lord 
made  heaven  and  earth,  on  ihe  sevenlh  day  he  rested,  and 
was  refreshed.'  ' 

21.  In  the  following  places  the  order  to  keep  the  Sab- 
bath is  repeated ;   but  in  every  one  it  is  limited  to  the 
Israelites :  Exod.  xxxv.  2,  3.     L/ev.  xxiii.  3,  15.  xxv. 

22.  The  limitation  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  the  making  it  a  sign  of  the  covenant  betwixt 
God  and  them,  expressly  negatives  the  construction  put 
upon  the  expression  in  Genesis,  that  by  it  the  Sabbath 
was  instituted.     It  is  making  God  act  most  absurdly,  to 
make    him   first  institute   the   Sabbath   for   the  whole 
world,  and  then  give  it  as  a  sign  limited  to  the  Israelites, 
when,   from  its  being  previously  established,   it  could 
most  clearly  be  no  such  thing. 

23.  From  several  of  these   passages   we  see  that  the 
Sabbath  was  ordained  as  a  sign  of  the  covenant,  made 


HOR^E  SABBATIC^.  57 

betwixt  God  and  the  Israelites.  To  be  a  sign  was  the 
reason  of  a  Sabbath  being  instituted,  not  the  resting  of 
God  from  his  work  :  though  the  selection  of  the  seventh, 
instead  of  the  third  or  fourth  or  other  day  of  the  week, 
was  made  to  remind  the  Israelites  of  that  event  As  we 
have  seen  in  Exodus,  that  it  was  given  as  a  sign  of  the 
covenant,  so  it  was  understood  by  Ezekiel,  who. says, 

10.  Wherefore  I  caused  'them  to  go  forth  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  brought  them  into  the  wilderness  : 

1 1.  And  I  gave  them  my  statutes,  and  showed  them  my 
judgments,  which,  if  a  man  do,  he  shall  even  live  in  them. 

12.  Moreover  also,  I  gave  them  my  Sabbaths,  to  be  a  sign 
between  me  and  them,  that  they  might  know  that  I  am  the 
Lord  that  sanctified  them. —  Ezek.  xx.  10-12. 

24.  On  this  Dr.    Paley  says :    Here  the   Sabbath  is 
plainly  spoken  of  as  given;  and  what  else  can  that  mean, 
but  as  first  instituted  in  the  wilderness? 

25.  The  Prophet   Nehemiah  also  expressly   declares, 
that  the  Sabbath  was  first  made   known  to  them,   or 
instituted  on  their  exod  from  Egypt.     He  says,  ix.  13. 

13.  Thou  earnest  down  also  upon  Mount  Sinai,  and  spakest 
with  them  from  heaven,  and  gavest  them  right  judgments,  and 
true  laws,  good  statutes  and  commandments : 

14.  And  madest  known  unto  them,  thy  holy  Sabbath,  and 
commandest  them  precepts,  £c. 

26.  How  could  it  be  said  that  he  made  known  to  them 
the  Sabbath  there,  if  it  were  known  to  them  before? 
The  language  of  Scripture  must  not  be  so  wrested,  from 
its  plain  obvious  signification,  to  gratify   prejudice,  or 
serve  particular  theories. 


58  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

27.  When  God  fixed  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath 
with  Moses,  he  chose  the  seventh  to  commemorate  the 
finishing  of  the  creation.     In  the  same  way  afterward  we 
shall  find  that,  when  Constantine  wished  to  fix  upon  one 
day,  to  be  set  apart  for  divine  worship,  he  chose  the  first 
to  commemorate  the  day  of  the  resurrection.     But  neither 
the  Sabbath  nor  the  Sunday  as  a  holy  day  was  established 
till  long  after  the  events,  in  honor  of  which  they  were 
fixed  upon,  had  been  passed. 

28.  But  the  observance  of  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 
as  a  Sabbath,  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  Sabbatical  law.* 

*  It  is  curious  to  observe  how  some  persons  can  make  difficulties  in 
dispensing  with  the  words  of  the  law,  when  thereby  they  gratify 
their  passions,  their  prejudices,  or  their  interest;  and  how  easily  in 
other  cases  they  can  dispense  with  them,  or,  rather  say,  set  them  at 
defiance.  They  say,  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  cannot  be  abolished, 
because  it  was  given  by  God  before  the  Israelites  existed,  and  there- 
fore is  binding  on  all  mankind,  and  not  on  the  Israelites  only.  If  this 
argument  be  good  in  one  case,  it  is  good  in  every  other  similar  case. 
In  the  fourth  verse  of  the  ninth  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  said, 

4.  But  flesh  with  the  life  thereof,  which  is  the  blood  thereof  ,  shall  ye  not  eat.  This  was 
Bald  to 


This  is  confirmed  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Leviticus,  where  it 
is  said, 

10.  And  whatsoever  man  there  be  of  the  house  of  Israel,  or  of  the  strangers  that  sojourn 
among  you,  that  eateth  any  manner  of  blood,  I  will  even  set  my  face  against  that  soul 
that  eateth  blood,  and  will  cut  him  off  from  among  his  people. 

In  the  following  verses,  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth,  this  order  is 
several  times  repeated,  including  strangers  ;  and  in  Deuteronomy  xii. 
16,  it  is  again  repeated. 

16.  Only  ye  shall  not  eat  the  blood  ;  ye  shall  pour  it  out  upon  the  earth  as  water. 

And  in  Acts,  when  all  the  other  laws  of  Moses  are  expressly  abolish- 
ed, this  is  exceptedby  name.  And  yet  Christians  of  every  denomin- 
ation eat  blood  and  animals  strangled  every  day. 

What  does  all  this  prove?  It  proves  that,  generally,  reason  has 
nothing  to  do  with  religion.  And  that  men  are  of  that  religion,  which 
their  priest  and  their  nurse  happen  accidentally  to  profess.  This 
observation  will  offend  many  persons  ;  but  it  is,  notwithstanding, 
perfectly  true. 


HOR.B    SABBATIC^.  59 

In  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Leviticus  a  Sabbatical  year 
is  ordained :  how  absurd  to  take  one  part  of  the  law  re- 
lating to  Sabbaths  and  not  the  other !  If  a  Sabbath  be 
kept  because  it  is  ordained  by  God  ;  consistently,  one 
Sabbath  must  be  kept  as  well  as  the  other. 

29.  The  Sabbath,  we  have  seen,  was  given  as  a  sign 
of  a  covenant  betwixt  God  and  the  Jews,  which  covenant 
was  expressly  abolished  by  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
then  it  necessarily  follows,  that  the  sign  of  the  covenant 
should  no  longer  be  observed. 

30.  If  a  Sabbath  be  kept,  because  it  was  ordained  by 
God  previously  to  the  time  of  Jesus,  it  must  be  kept  as 
he  ordained  it;   and  how  he   ordained   it  we  can  only 
know  from  the  books  and  the  practice  of  the  Jews. 

31.  They  were  to  do  no  work  on  that  day,  not  even  to 
light  a  fire ;  no  victuals  could  be  dressed,  or  even  put  on 
or  taken  off  the  table  on  that  day :    the   candle  was 
lighted  before  the  day  began  ;  and  if  it  went  out,  it  could 
not  be  lighted  again ;    and  if  a  draught  of  water  was 
wanted,  it  could  not  be  fetched. 

32.  It  has  been  observed  to  me,  that  it  appears  from 
Acts  xiii.  42.  xvi.  13.  xviii.  4.  that  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians did  not  relax  in  their  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
True  ;  nor  did  they  relax  in  the  observance  of  any  other 
part  of  the  Jewish  law  for  some  years.     They  certainly 
kept  the  Sabbath  until  it,  with  all  other  Jewish  rites, 
was  declared  to  be  abolished  by  the  Apostles  assembled 
at  Jerusalem.      They   might  meet  on  the  Sunday,   as 
Christians  who  are  devout  at  this  day  have  prayers  in 
their  houses  morning  and  evening,  or  fast  on  Fridays 


60  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

and  Saturdays.  They  assembled  also  in  the  evening  to 
celebrate  their  love-feasts,  and  again  to  sing  hymns 
before  day-light.  If  these  times  were  not  chosen  in 
order  that  the  day  might  be  given  to  worldly  duties; 
pray  let  any  divine  tell  what  they  were  selected  for? 

33.  It  cannot  be  said  that  they  assembled  at  those 
times  to  avoid  persecution  ;  for  they  must  then  all  have 
been  in  the  state  of  "lapsed;"  that  is,  of  those  who  had 
denied  their  Saviour,  or  refused  the  honors  of  martyrdom, 
and  were  therefore  excommunicated.     It  is  well  known 
that  a  great  feud  arose  in  the  church,  respecting  the  read- 
mission  into  it  of  those  who  had  withdrawn  from  perse- 
cution.     Some  refusing  to  admit  them  on  any  terms ; 
and  others  being  willing  to  receive  them  again  after 
severe  penance.      So  far  from  attempting  to  avoid  the 
honors  of  martyrdom,  by  secreting  themselves  ;  it  is  well 
known  that  these  honors  were  sought  for  by  Christians 
with  eagerness  : — Vid.  Pliny's  Letters  to  Trajan.     It  has 
been  said  that  they  fled  to  the  catacombs  to  conceal  the 
rites  of  their  religion,  and  to  avoid  persecution.     This 
surely  was  a  most  dangerous  expedient ;    for  as  there 
was   only   one   road   into    them,    by    closing    it,    their 
enemies  might  have  destroyed  them  with  the  greatest 
facility. 

34.  The  truth  of  the  matter  was  this — they  frequented 
the  catacombs  to  celebrate  there  the  services  to  the  dead  ; 
as  they  were  afterward  celebrated  in  the  crypts  under 
the  choirs  of  our  ancient  cathedrals  :  for  which  purpose 
these  crypts  were  beautifully  ornamented,  as  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  cathedral  at  Canterbury.     The  Council  of 


HORM    SABBATIC^.  6l 

Elvira,  by  one  of  its  canons,  forbid  the  use  of  candles  in 
the  catacombs,  in  the  celebration  of  the  services  for  the 
dead  ;  for  this  wise  reason, 

'  That  they  might  not  disturb  the  souls  of  the  deceased.' 

35.  The  assembling  in  the  evening  and  early  in  the 
morning,  was  evidently  done  to  leave  to  slaves,  servants, 
tradesmen,  and  all  others,  the  means  of  pursuing  their 
usual  avocations  during  the  remainder  of  the  day. 

36.  If  it  be  clearly  shown,  by  quotations  and  fair  argu- 
ment, that  the  Sabbath  was  abolished  by  the  New  Testa- 
ment, it  is  not  of  much  consequence,  what  the  persons 
called  the  Fathers  of  the  church  say  upon  the  subject ; 
or  what  was  their  practice  :   we  have  as  much  right  to 
judge  for  ourselves  as  they  had.     But  it  may  be  said, 
that  they  may  have  adopted  a  practice  from  the  Apostles, 
as  they  lived  so  near  them.     Then  we  will  enquire  what 
was  their  practice  and  opinions. 

37.  The  works  of  the  apostolic  fathers,  the  apostolical 
constitutions,  and  indeed  all  the  works  of  the  ancient 
fathers  of  the  church  before  Justin  Martyr,  are  allowed, 
by  the  first  divines  and  bishops  of  the  present  day,  to  be 
forgeries  ;  therefore,  though  their  works  contain  passages 
favorable  to  the  argument,  they  will  not  be  used. 

38.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  Justin  Martyr  must  have 
known  perfectly  well,  what  was  the  doctrine  of  the  early 
Christians  upon  this  subject.     He  is  the  very  first  of  the 
Christian  fathers  of  whom  we  have  any  entire  works, 
whose  genuineness  is  not  disputed.      In   his   dialogue 
with  Trypho  the  Jew,  he  says  : 


62  HOR^  SABBATIC^. 


'  The  new  law  will  have  you  keep  a  perpetual  Sabbath  ;  and 
you,  when  you  have  passed  one  day  in  idleness,  think  you  are 
religious,  not  knowing  why  that  was  commanded  you.  The 
Lord  our  God  is  not  pleased  with  such  things  as  these.  If  any 
among  you  is  guilty  of  perjury  or  fraud,  let  him  cease  from  these 
crimes;  if  he  is  an  adulterer,  let  him  repent,  and  he  will  have 
kept  the  kind  of  Sabbath  pleasing  to  God.'  Again  :  —  'Do  you 
see  that  the  elements  are  never  idle  nor  keep  a  Sabbath  ?  Con- 
tinue as  you  were  created.  For  if  there  was  no  need  of  circum- 
cision before  Abraham,  nor  of  the  observation  of  the  Sabbaths, 
andfestivais,  and  oblations  before  Moses,  neither  now  likewise 
is  there  any  need  of  them  after  Jesus  Christ,  &c.  Tell  me  why 
did  not  God  teach  those  to  perform  such  things,  who  preceded 
Moses  and  Abraham,  just  men,  of  great  renown,  and  who  were 
well-pleasing  to  him,  though  they  neither  were  circumcised  nor 
observed  Sabbaths?'  Again:  —  'As  therefore  circumcision 
began  from  Abraham,  and  the  Sabbath,  sacrifices,  and  oblations 
from  Moses;  which  it  has  been  shown  were  ordained  on 
account  of  your  nation's  hardness  of  heart,  so,  according  to  the 
council  of  the  fathers,  they  were  to  end  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Son 
of  God.' 

39.  Similar  passages  might  be  selected  from  Irenseus 
and  Tertullian,  intending  to  prove  that  the  Sabbath  was 
a  special  ordinance  confined  to  the  Jews,  as  a  sign  of  a 
covenant  betwixt  God  and  them. 

40.  That  the  Christians  assembled  on  the  Sunday  in 
the  time  of  Justin  Martyr,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  the  birth  of  Jesus,  for  the  purpose  of  divine  worship, 
cannot  be  denied,   if  it  were  desired  so  to  do,   as  the 
following  curious  passage  proves.     But  it  was  not  com- 
pulsory,   nor   esteemed  a  sin  to  neglect   it,  or  do  any 
ordinary  business  on  that  day. 

41.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  Section  89,  of  Justin's 
Apology  : 


SABBATIC^.  63 

'  Upon  Sunday  we  all  assemble,  that  being  the  first  day  in 
which  God  set  himself  to  work  upon  the  dark  void,  in  order  to 
make  the  world,  and  in  which  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  rose 
again  from  the  dead:  for  the  day  before  Saturday,  he  was 
crucified;  and  the  day  after,  which  is  Sunday,  he  appeared  to 
his  Apostles  and  disciples,  and  taught  them  what  I  have  now 
proposed  to  your  consideration.' 

42.  It  is  a  curious  circumstance,  that  the  Christians, 
according  to  Justin,  did  not  keep  the  Sunday,  because 
God  had  ended  his  work,  but  because  he  had  begun  it, 
on  that  day. 

43.  In  the  passage  here   cited,  Justin  is  giving  the 
reasons  why  the  Christians  observed  the  Sunday.     He 
was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  early  Christian 
martyrs.     We  are  told  that  he  was  a  heathen  philoso- 
pher, converted  to  Christianity.     This  passage  is  from  a 
well-known    apology,    written  in   order  to  convert   the 
Emperor  Antoninus  Pius.     It  is  not  possible  to  believe, 
that  if  the  observance  of  Sunday  had  been  of  divine  or 
apostolical  appointment,  he  would  not  here  have  stated  it. 
In  other  parts  of  his  works  he  quotes  the  authority  of  the 
Apostles  for  the  doctrines  which  he  teaches.     If  it  had 
been  considered  by  the  Christians  in  his  day  as  a  divine 
ordinance,  in  lieu  of  the  old  Sabbath,  we  should  here 
most  certainly  have  been  informed  of  it.     It  was  evidently 
a  municipal  or  fiscal  regulation,  a  part  of  their  discipline 
established  by  themselves,  and  nothing  more ;   and  his 
authority,  the  best  and  earliest  in  the  Christian  church, 
decides  the  question  beyond  dispute. 

44.  The   earliest   of  the    Christians,    who    kept    the 
Sunday,  always  kept  it  as  a  festival  with  joy  and  glad- 


64  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

ness,  to  celebrate  the  glorious  resurrection  of  their 
Saviour.  Tertullian  declares  it  unlawful  to  fast  on  a 
Sunday,  or  to  worship  on  the  knees*  on  that  day.  The 
sixty-sixth  of  the  apostolical  canons  declares,  that  if  an 
ecclesiastic  should  fast  on  a  Sunday,  he  should  be 
deposed  ;  and  if  a  layman  should  do  it,  he  should  be 
excommunicated.  Mr.  Whiston  thought  with  the  Catho- 
lics, that  these  canons  were  not  forgeries :  but  whether 
forgeries  or  not,  they  show  all  they  are  quoted  for; 
namely,  the  opinion  of  Christians  in  a  very  early  day. 
St.  Augustinef  condemns  fasting  on  a  Sunday,  for  the 
reason  given  above ;  namely,  because  it  was  a  day  of  joy 
and  gladness.  —  Ep.  86.  ad  Casulan. 

45.  It  may  be  doubtful  what  authority  the  Protestants 
of  this  day  may  choose  to  allow  to  the  canons  of  the 
Council  of  Nice  ;  but  as  they  adopt  the  Niceue  Creed, 
they  will  not  deny  that  they  are  entitled  to  some  respect 
in  the  decision  of  the  question.  Of  what  was  the  general 
opinion  of  the  Church  in  their  day,  in  such  cases  as  this 
opinion  shall  be  clearly  stated  by  them.  The  following 
is  an  extract  from  the  i6th  canon  : 

Caput  1 6.  de  Adoratione  seu  Genuflexione. 
....  in  sanctis  dominicis  diebus  sacrisque  aliis  solennitatibus 
nullae  fiant  genuflexiones,  quia  tota  Sancta  Ecclesia  in  hisce 
laetatur,  et  exultat  diebus,  genuflexiones  autem  afflictionis 
tristitias,  timoris  et  moeroris  tessara  sunt  et  signum,  ideo 
omittendae  sunt  diebus  festis,  ac  maxime  die  resurrectionis 
Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  a  mortuis.  Hoc  autem  caput  sine 

*Die  dominica  jejunare  nefas  ducimus,  vel  de  genicolia  adorare. 
Tertul.  De  Cor.  cap.  3. 

t  Called  by  Dr.  Lardner,  the  glory  of  Africa. 


SABBATIC^).  65 

anathemate  est.     Hist.  Philip.  Labbei  cone.  Nic.  ad  Can.  16. 
A.  D.  325.  Pap.  Silvester,  i. 

46.  In  the  Sacrosancta  Concilia  Philip.  Labbei  et  Gabr. 
Cossartii,  torn.  2.  p.  385,  the  Sabbatarians  are  placed  the 
first  amongst  seventy-seven  named  sects  : 

It  is  said,  '  Rerum  obliti  erant  isti  Dei  vocem  per  Isaiam 
prophetam  ita  contestantem  :  Odio  habuit  anima  mea  Sabbata 
vestra,  et  neomenias  vestras,  et  facta  sunt  mihi  gravia.' 

47.  The  Manicheans  and  Marcionites,  sects  of  heretics 
to  whom  the  modern  Puritans  or  Evangelical  Christians 
probably  would  not  like  to  be  compared,  kept  the  Sunday 
as  a  day  of  humiliation.     This  gave  great  scandal  to  the 
orthodox  of  that   day,   and  to  most,  if  not   all,   other 
heretics.     Pope  Leo  the  First,  in  his  fifteenth  Epistle  to 
Turibius,  says,  "The  Manicheans  have  been  convicted 
in  the  examination  which  we  have  made,  of  passing  the 
Sunday,  which  is  consecrated  to  the  resurrection  of  our 
Lord,  in  mortification  and  fasting." 

48.  By  a  decree  of  the  Council  of  Gangres  in  Paphla- 
gonia,  about  the  year  357,  all  those  are  anathematized 
who,  from  devotion  and  mortification,*  pass  the  Sunday 
in  fasting. — See    Pagi.    Crit.    Bar.    An.    357    and   360. 
Though  Protestants  may  despise  the  authority  of  these 
ancient  Popes  and  Councils,  yet  they  cannot  deny,  that 
they  prove  what  were  the  early  opinions  of  the  Church, 
which  is  all  they  are  quoted  for. 

49.  God  forbid,    that  the   characters   of  Constantine 
and  Eusebius  should  be  held  up  as  examples  worthy  of 

*C'Uif'l.  Gang.  Canon,  xviii.     Aui  vo/ni-ofj.Evijv  UOKTJCUV. 


66  HOR^E  SABBATIC^E. 

imitation  ;  but  yet  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  edict  of 
the  former,  by  which  the  observation  of  Sunday  as  a  day 
of  rest  was  first  ordained  by  law,  and  made  imperative  on 
Christians,  bespeaks  in  every  part  of  it  sound  discretion. 
His  edict  says, 

'  Let  all  judges  and  towns-people,  and  the  occupations  of  all 
trades,  rest  on  the  venerable  day  of  the  sun.  But  let  those  who 
are  situated  in  the  country,  freely  and  at  full  liberty,  attend  to 
the  business  of  agriculture ;  because  it  often  happens,  that  no 
other  day  is  so  fit  for  sowing  corn,  or  planting  vines,  lest  the 
critical  moment  being  let  slip,  men  should  lose  the  commodities 
granted  them  by  the  providence  of  Heaven.'* 

50.  When   Constantine   was   passing  this  law,    with 
Busebius   and   the  clergy  of  his   newly-established  re- 
ligion to  assist  and  advise  him,  can  it  be  believed,  that 
he  would  not  have  stated,  that  it  was  done  in  obedience 
to  the  command  of  God,  as  handed  down  by  tradition,  or 
by  writing,  if  such  it  had  been  considered  ?     The  con- 
trary cannot  be  believed,  whether  he  be  considered  as  a 
hypocrite,  or  a  devotee. 

51.  Though  Dr.    Paley  considers  the  Sabbath  to  be 
abolished,  he  thinks  that, 

'  The  assembling  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  for  the  pur- 
pose of  public  worship  and  religious  instruction,  is  a  law  of 
Christianity  of  divine  appointment :' 

but  he  goes  on  to  qualify  this  by  adding, 

*  Omnes  judices  urbanaique  plebes  et  cunctaruin  artium  officia 
venerabili  die  soils  quiescant.  Ruri  tamen  positi  agrorum  culture 
libere  licenterque  inserviant,  quoniam  frequenter  evenit,  ut  non  aptius 
alio  die  frumenta  sulcis  aut  vineee  scrobibus  mandentur,  ne  occasione 
momenti  pereat  commoditas  ccelesti  provisione  concessa.  Dat.  Nonis 
Mart.  Crispo  11.  et  Constantino  11.  Conss.  Corp.  Jur.  Civ,  Codicis,  lib 
3.  tit.  12. 


SABBATIC^.  67 

'  The  resting  on  that  day  from  our  employments,  longer  than 
we  are  detained  from  them  by  attendance  upon  these  assem- 
blies, is  to  Christians  an  ordinance  of  human  institution? 

52.  Now  the  question,  whether  the  assembling  for 
public  worship  on  the  Sunday  differently  from  any  other 
day,  be  of  human  or  divine  appointment,  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  appointment  of  divine  worship  generally, 
but  only  to  its  being  fixed  to  that  particular  time.  His 
inference  is  merely  drawn  from  the  apparent  assembling 
of  the  Apostles  and  disciples  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
as  described  in  the  three  places  quoted  in  the  first  Part ; 
whence  he  infers  that  there  must  have  been  some  appoint- 
ment by  divine  authority  unknown  to  us.  This  it  has 
been  shown  that  not  one  of  the  texts  will  warrant. 
Granting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  they  were 
assembled  all  the  three  times  alluded  to  by  previous 
appointment,  and  not  by  accident,  and  that  this  was 
fixed  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  the  fair  inference  is, 
that  the  fixing  of  this  day  was  not  of  divine,  but  of 
human  invention  only :  for  it  cannot  be  believed,  that 
an  ordinance  of  such  great  importance  would  not  have 
been  stated  to  be  of  divine  authority,  if  it  had  been  so 
considered.  It  is  quite  absurd  to  suppose  afterward, 
when  great  and  even  bloody  feuds  were  taking  place, 
respecting  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  on  the  seventh 
day,  that  not  one  of  the  Fathers  or  parties  should  have 
stated,  that  the  Apostles  had  established  the  observance 
of  the  Sunday  instead  of  it.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  favorable  to  the  anti-sabbatarians  ;  and  in  no  other 
way  can  their  silence  be  accounted  for,  than  by  the  sup- 


68  HOR^  SABBATIC^. 

position,  that  they  did  not  allege  this,  because  the  falsity 
of  their  allegation  would  have  been  notorious.  If  the 
case  had  been  doubtful  even,  they  would  have  availed 
themselves  of  it,  as  far  as  was  in  their  power. 

53.  Some  persons  have  imagined,  that  the  day  of  the 
Sun,  dies  Dominica,  the  first  day  of  the  week,  the  day 
peculiarly  dedicated  to  the  Sun  by  the  heathens,  was 
called  the  Lord's-day,  out  of  honor  to  Jesus  Christ.    And 
Dr.  Priestley  had  this  idea :  he  says, 

'  That  before  the  death  of  John,  it  had  obtained  the  epithet 
of  the  Lord's-day.  As  John  did  nothing  more  than  use  the 
epithet  xupiox-i,  to  distinguish  the  day  he  alluded  to,  and  wrote 
for  the  use  of  Christians  in  general,  of  that  and  all  succeeding 
ages,  it  is  evident,  that  he  knew  they  wanted  no  other  mark  to 
discover  what  day  he  meant,  and  that,  therefore,  it  was  a  name 
universally  given  to  the  first  day  at  that  time  by  Christians.' 

54.  No   doubt  he  knew  that  the   Christians   would 
understand    him,   and   the  Doctor  might  have   added, 
the  heathens  also.       For  it  was  known  by  this  name 
before  Jesus  was  born,  in  honor  of  the  Sun,  who  was 
always  called  Dominus  Sol,  and  the  day,  dies  Dominica. 
—  See  Dupuis  sur  tous  les  cultes,  vol.  3.  p.  41.  ed.  4to. 
The  Persians  called  their  God  Mithra  always  the  Lord 
Mithra ;  but  it  is  well  known,  that  Mithra  was  nothing 
but  the  Sun.     Dr.  Paley  has  fallen  into  the  same  mistake 
with  Dr.  Priestley. 

55.  The  Syrians  gave  to  the  Sun  the  epithet  of  Adonis, 
or  Lord.     Adon  is  yet  the  word  for  Lord  in  the  Welsh 
Celtic  language.     Porphyry,  in  a  prayer  which  he  ad- 
dresses to  the  Sun,  calls  him  Dominus  Sol.     And  in  the 


HOR;E  SABBATIC^.  69 

consecration  of  the  seven  days  of  the  week  to  the  different 
planets,  the  day  of  the  Sun  is  called  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Sol,  or  dies  Dominica  ;  when  the  others  are  called  only 
by  their  names,  as  dies  Martis,  &c. — See  Porphyry,  de 
Abstinentia,  1.  4.  Dupuis,  v.  3.  p.  41 — 55.  ed.  4to. 
Every  one  of  the  ancient  nations  gave  the  Sun  the 
epithet  of  Lord  or  Master,  or  some  title  equivalent  to  it, 
as  Kupws  in  Greek,  Dominus  in  Latin.  As  the  Sun  was 
called  Dominus,  the  Moon  or  Isis  was  called  Domina. 
On  the  side  of  a  church  in  Bologna,  formerly  a  temple, 
the  following  inscription  still  remains :  Dominse  Isidi 
Victrici. 

56.  The  multiplication,  by   the  laws   of  society,    of 
artificial  offences,  which  are  in  themselves  no   crimes, 
such   as   those   created   by   the   excise   laws,    and    the 
prohibition    of  innocent   amusements  on    the  Sunday, 
have   a  very   strong   tendency    to    corrupt    the   public 
morals. 

57.  To  convert  an  act  pleasurable  and  agreeable  to  the 
youthful  mind,  and  innocent  in  its  own  nature,  such  as 
a  game  of  cricket,  on  a  Sunday  evening,  into  a  crime,  is 
to  treat  the  Lord's-prayer  with  contempt.     It  is  to  lead 
into  temptation  the  uncorrupted  ;   who,  by  the  nature  of 
their  youth,  are  the  most  open  to  it.     Another  objection 
arises,  from  the  circumstance  that  the  laboring  orders 
of  mankind,  who  are  obliged  to  work  all  the  six  days  of 
the  week  to  earn   their  subsistence,   are   consequently 
much  more  exposed  to  temptation  than  the  higher  orders, 
to  whom  every  day  is  a  Sabbath,  or  day  of  rest ;  and 
who  increase  the  temptation  to  the  others  to  break  it,  by 


70  HOR^E  SABBATIC/E. 

breaking  it  with  impunity   themselves  whenever  they 
think  proper. 

58.  The  temptation  is  also  much  greater  to  the  laborer, 
who  works  all  the  other  six  days,  than  to  the  rich  man, 
to  whom  they  are  all  Sabbaths  or  days  of  rest.     The  rich 
man,  who  has  never  worked,  can  scarcely  form  an  idea 
of  the  pleasure  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  poor  laborer. 

59.  In  sermons,  and  in  books  of  different  kinds,  put 
into  the  hands  of  young  and  ignorant  persons,  Sabbath- 
breaking  is  constantly  held  up  as  a  most  heinous  and 
terrible  sin  ;  and  when  persons  thus  taught  to  consider  it 
as  a  sin  of  magnitude,  equal  to  the  commission  of  real 
crimes,  are  once  tempted  to  a  commission  of  the  offence, 
they  become  hardened.     An  effect  is  produced  upon  their 
minds,  very  different  from  what  it  would  be  if  they  were 
merely  told  that  Sabbath-breaking  was  wrong,  because 
it  was  a  breach  of  a  municipal  regulation,  of  little  conse- 
quence :  and  that  if  they  persisted  in  it,  they  should  be 
made  to  pay  the  penalty  of  the  law,  three  shillings  and 
fourpence. 

60.  It  is   the   very   acme   of  impolicy,   and   has   the 
strongest  tendency  to  corrupt  the  morals  of  a  people, 
to  teach  them  that   trifling  offences,   which  from  any 
peculiar  circumstance  they  are  constantly  exposed  to 
daily  and  almost  insuperable  temptation  to  commit,  are 
of  a  heinous  nature.     The  mind  by  repeatedly  commit- 
ting a  minor  offence,  colored  to  it  as  an  atrocious  act, 
becomes  hardened  and  prepared  by  a  species  of  appren- 
ticeship for  the  commission  of  the  worst  crimes.     Hence 
it  is  we  constantly  find  culprits  at  the  gallows  charging 


HORJE  SABBATIC^.  71 

the  sin  of  Sabbath-breaking,  as-  they  call  it,  with  the 
origin  of  their  abandoned  course  of  life  ;  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  they  are  correct  in  so  doing.  —  By  con- 
sidering the  Sabbath  or  day  of  rest  in  the  point  of  view 
in  which  it  has  been  placed,  merely  as  a  municipal  regu- 
lation, it  is  evident  that  the  occasional  breach  of  it  will 
not  be  attended  with  the  same  pernicious  consequences 
as  attend  the  breach  of  it  when  considered  as  a  divine 
ordinance.  The  persons  who  sincerely  appropriate  the 
whole  day  to  the  observance  of  religious  duties,  no  doubt 
will  be  more  pious  than  those  who  appropriate  only  part 
of  it :  as  those  are  more  pious,  who  pray  morning  aud 
night,  than  those  who  pray  once  a  day.  But  the  minds 
of  those  who,  either  by  business  or  pleasure,  are  induced 
to  neglect  it,  will  not  be  hardened  in  vice  :  and  a  person 
of  good  common  sense  will  know,  that  if  he  perform  the 
duties  of  prayer  and  thanksgiving  on  some  other  day, 
when  he  has  been  induced  to  neglect  them  on  the  day 
fixed  by  the  law  of  the  land,  the  offence,  further  than 
merely  the  breach  of  a  trifling  municipal  regulation, 
valued  at  3^.  4<£,  will  be  in  a  great  measure  atoned  for. 

61.  If  the  Sunday  be  considered  as  a  divinely  appointed 
substitute  for  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  the  consequence  fol- 
lows, that  it  must,  or  at  least  ought,  if  consistency  be 
attended  to,  to  be  kept  in  every  respect  as  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  was  ordained  to  be  kept.  In  the  multifarious 
and  complicated  concerns  of  a  great  commercial  nation, 
it  is  not  possible  to  keep  it  as  strictly  as  ordained  by  the 
letter  of  the  old  law.  Hence  it  must  be  violated  every 
day,  both  by  governments  and  individuals.  In  conse- 


72  HOR^  SABBATIC^. 

quence  of  considering  this  institution  of  divine  appoint- 
ment, many  persons  of  the  best  dispositions  are  placed 
almost  daily  in  situations  the  most  painful.  The  dis- 
tressing nature  of  these  situations  evidently  proceeds 
from  the  mistaken  idea  that  it  is  of  divine,  and  not  of 
human,  appointment.  If  it  be  the  former,  it  evidently 
admits  of  no  modification  :  but  if  it  be  only  the  latter,  it 
as  evidently  may  be  varied,  or  even  dispensed  with,  as 
circumstances  require.  Being  ordained  to  be  kept  by 
the  magistrate,  it  is  wrong  not  to  keep  it ;  but  the 
offence  in  the  former  case  is  far  greater  than  in  the 
latter. 

62.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  author,  an  honest, 
respectable,  industrious  man  lived  at  an  inn  as  hostler, 
and  after  some  time  his  master  obtained  a  share  in  a 
mail  coach,  and  he  had  the  horses  to  prepare  and  take 
care  of.  It  is  evident  that  this  man  must  break  the 
Sabbath  every  Sunday,  or  abandon  the  situation  by 
which  he  maintained  his  family  in  comfort ;  a  situation 
for  which  he  was  much  better  qualified  than  for  any 
other.  He  applied  to  the  author  for  advice,  having 
read  his  Bible,  and  wishing  to  do  his  duty ;  but  not 
wishing  to  ruin  himself,  and  send  his  wife  and  children 
to  the  parish.  He  was  recommended  to  go  to  his  parish 
priest.  What  passed  is  unknown  to  the  author,  except 
that  he  returned  with  a  perfect  contempt  for  the  wretched 
sophistry  of  his  ghostly  adviser,  who  happened  to  be  one 
of  the  Evangelical  Christians,  as  they  call  themselves. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  common  sense  ;  it  was  not  likely 
that  he  should  do  otherwise. 


SABBATIC^.  73 

63.  Very   good  men  amongst   both    the  French  and 
English  have  wished  the  observance  of  the  Sunday  to  be 
abolished.      But  surely  they  have  reasoned  very  incor- 
rectly.     Some  have  said  that  it  is  unwise  to  lose  one 
seventh  part  of  the  labor  of  the  industrious  classes  of 
mankind,  and  that  on  this  account  it  would  conduce 
greatly  to  the  riches  of  a  state  to  abolish  it.     This  is  the 
argument  of  the  West  India  planter,  and  no  doubt  is  true. 
It  is  the  reason  why  postmasters  never  wish  to  have  their 
horses  stand  still  in  the  stable  ;  and  no  doubt  it  is  true : 
but  it  requires  no  comment. 

64.  Others  have  said,  it  is  a  great  hardship,  to  deprive 
a  poor  man  of  the  produce  of  the  seventh  part  of  his 
voluntary  labor,  for  the  support  of  his  family.     This  is 
no  doubt  true  also,  if  the  argument  be  applied  to  one 
family  only ;    but  if  it  be  applied  to  a  whole   nation, 
nothing  can  be  more  untrue.     And  nothing  is  more  easy 
than  to  show,  that  if  in  a  whole  nation  the  observance 
of  Sunday  were  to  be  abolished,  though  the  rich  would 
be  greatly  benefited,  no  poor  man  would  be  bettered  in 
point  of  pecuniary  concerns  to  the  amount  of  a  single 
farthing,  and  in  many  respects  the  comforts  and  enjoy- 
ments of  the  poor  would  be   very   greatly   abridged.* 
Some  persons  have  maintained  that  a  day  of  rest  is  a 
day  of  idleness  and  dissipation,  alike  destructive  to  the 
purses  and   the  morals  of  the  industrious  part  of  the 
community.     This  is  to  reason  against  the  use,  from  the 
abuse  of  a  thing.     It  only  shows  the  necessity  of  proper 

*See  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  LXVII.  p.  23. 


74  HOR^E  SABBATIC^E. 

regulations.      A  person  may  as  well  argue  against  the 
planting  of  vines  or  barley,  because  people  get  drunk. 

65.  As  a  human  ordinance,  nothing  can  be  more  wise 
than  the  observance  of  a  periodical  day  of  devotion,  rest, 
and  recreation  ;  but,  as  a  Sabbath,  in  the  strict  sense  of 
the  Jews   and  Calvinists,   nothing    can  be   well    more 
pernicious.     The  practice  of  the  Roman  Catholics  seems 
to  be  not  only  the  most  consistent  with  Scripture,  but 
the  most  rational.     After  their  devotions  are  over,  they 
have  no  scruple  to  join  in  any  innocent  recreation  and 
amusement.     How  different  this  is  to  the  conduct  of  our 
modern    Pharisees !      Many    persons    will   not   on   any 
account  read  a  newspaper  on  a  Sunday,  or  allow  a  little 
music  in  their  house  on  that  day  on  any  consideration. 
An  instance  is  known  to  the  author,  where  a  Scotchman 
informed  a  young  man,  visiting  at  his  house,  that  it  was 
not  usual  with  them  to  laugh  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  he 
hoped  he  would  abstain  from  it.     All  this  arises  from 
the  mistaken  idea,  that  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day 
is  a  renewal  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 

66.  The  author  feels  a  pleasure  in  stating,  that  the 
old  law  of  England,   before  its  late  corruption  by  the 
modern  Pharisees,  was  perfectly  accordant  with  his  view 
of  the  subject.      The   Sunday  is  classed   amongst  the 
festivals,   not  the  fasts.     All  works  of  necessity  were 
permitted,   and  only  such  as  were  not  necessary  were 
forbidden  ;  vid.  Act  of  Charles  2d,  c.   2.  s.   7  :   and  by 
King  James's  Book  of  Sports,  such  amusements  were 
allowed  as  at  that  time   were   thought   necessary   and 
innocent ;  such  as  DANCING,  archery,  leaping,  vaulting, 


HOR.E    SABBATIC^S.  75 

May  Games,  Whitson  ales,  morris  dances,  a  species  of 
dramatic  entertainment,  &c. :  vid.  Dalton,  c.  46.  It  is 
very  much  to  be  desired  that  they  were  re-enacted,  that 
the  people  might  be  encouraged  after  divine  service  to 
apply  to  cheerful  amusements,  instead  of  the  ale-house, 
or  what  is  as  bad,  the  petty  conventicles  of  morose 
Calvinistic  fanatics,*  who  fancy  they  have  a  call  to 
preach  up,  what  in  their  hands  is  nothing  better  than  a 
prava  immodica  et  cxitiabilis  superstitio^  to  their  gaping 
auditors,  almost  as  ignorant  as  themselves,  for  which 
there  is  no  remedy  but  silent  contempt. 

67.  The  following  injunctions  were  published  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  Edward  the  Sixth  ;  and  as  no  doubt  they 
speak  the  opinions  of  the  leading  reformers  of  that  day, 
they  are  curious,  and  deserving  of  respect. 

4  All  parsons,  vicars  and  curates  shall  teach  and  declare  unto 
the  people,  that  they  may  with  a  safe  and  quiet  conscience, 
after  their  common  prayer  in  time  of  harvest,  labor  upon  the 
holy  and  festival  days,  and  save  that  thing  which  God  hath 
sent.  And  tf  for  any  scrupulosity  or  grudge  of  conscience  they 
shall  abstain  from  working  upon  those  days,  that  then  they 
shall  grievously  offend  and  displease  God.' 

68.  It  is  necessary  to  observe  that  festival  days,  ac- 
cording to  act  of  parliament,  include  all  Sundays.     It  is 
a  thing  very  much  to  be  desired,  that  the  generality  of 
persons  engaged  in  business  would  be  content  with  the 

*  Calvin,  the  founder  of  the  doctrine  of  these  people,  who  burnt 
Servetus  for  differing  in  opinion  with  him,  declared  he  believed  in 
what  he  taught,  quia  incredibile  ext,  because  ft  is  incredible.  He  was  quite 
right;  it  is  the  only  ground  on  which  it  can  be  believed,  because  it  is 
contrary  to  the  moral  attributes  of  God. 

t  Pliny,  Tacitus,  Suetonius. 


76  HOR^  SABBATIOE. 

religion  of  their  ancestors,  at  least  until  they  can  pro- 
duce some  good  reasons  for  making  a  change ;  leaving 
the  task  of  expounding  difficult  texts  of  the  Bible  to  the 
divines  and  polemics. 

69.  A  learned  traveller,  speaking  of  France,  says, 

"Methodists  and  enthusiasts  there  are  none;  and  nothing 
more  astonishes  a  Frenchman  than  to  describe  the  ascendancy 
of  Methodism  in  England,  the  death-like  gloom  of  an  English 
Sunday,  and  the  vagaries  of  the  jumpers  and  other  such 
fanatics,  who  disgrace  the  intelligence  of  the  British  people. 
It  was  repeated  to  me  at  least  fifty  times  in  reply  to  my  ob- 
servations— 'though  men  are  forbidden  to  work  on  a  Sunday, 
they  are  not  forbidden  to  play;'  '  and  if,'  said  a  French  priest 
to  me,  'you  would  keep  Sunday  out  of  respect  to  our  Lord's 
ascension,  instead  of  keeping  the  Sabbath,  surely  that  ascension 
is  a  subject  rather  of  gaiety  than  sadness." 

70.  When  a  Frenchman  has  performed  the  devotional 
exercises  required  by  his  religion,   he  does  not  think 
there  is  any  thing  wrong  in  doing  such  occasional  labor 
or  work  on  a  Sunday,  as  may  offer  itself  or  be  required. 
He  does  not  consider  that  he  is  acting  against  the  word 
of  God  ;  he  is  only  giving  up  part  of  his  own  enjoyment, 
the  recreation  which  is  allowed  to  him  :  and  if  he  have 
a  family,  he  thinks  he  is  making  a  meritorious  sacrifice, 
rather  than  otherwise.     And  this  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  idea  of  it,  as  a  day  of  festivity  ordained  by  the 
church. 

71.  It  has  been  said    that   Jesus  wept,    but    never 
laughed  ;  but  for  all  this,  he  had  no  objection  to  cheer- 
ful society,  and  that  to  a  pretty  liberal  extent,  or  he 
would  not  by  a  miracle,  at  Cana  in  Galilee,  have  pro- 


SABBATlCvE.  77 

vided  more  wine,  when  the  guests  had  already  taken  as 
much  as  the  host  had  thought  proper  to  provide  for 
them.  Nor  would  he  have  attended  a  feast  on  the  Sab- 
bath-day, as  described  in  Luke  xiv. 

72.  The  people  of  Geneva  appear  to  keep  the  Sunday 
more  correctly  than  any  other  persons.     During  divine 
service  all  the  wine-houses,  shops,  &c.,  are  closed,  and 
the  gates  of  the  town  opened  to  none  but  surgeons  and 
accoucheurs,  except  some  very  urgent  case  is  made  out 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  magistrate.      The  labors  of 
husbandry  are  permitted  in  harvest,  and  at  other  times, 
when  the  magistrate   gives   permission  for  them,   and 
thinks  it  proper.     After  the  day's  devotion  is  over,  the 
evening  is  spent  at  dramatic  entertainments,  or  in  visit- 
ing, dancing,  playing  at  athletic  games,  such  as  foot- 
ball, &c. 

73.  It  is  constantly  the  boast  of  Christians,  that  their 
religion  is  a  religion   of  cheerfulness,  in  opposition  to 
objectors,  who  have  charged  it  with  being  the  contrary. 
Surely  the  objection  must  be  considerably  strengthened 
by  the  conversion  of  fifty-two  days  (one-seventh  of  the 
whole  year)  from  days  of  festivity  into  days  of  mourning 
and   sadness.      Though   the   fanatic  may  approve   this 
conversion,  the  philosophic  Christian,   the  real  philan- 
thropist, must  view  it  with  sorrow  and  regret. 

74.  Thus,  when  the  day  is  considered  as  it  ought  to 
be,  merely  as  a  human  ordinance,  it  can  be  regulated 
without  difficulty,  by  the  governors  of  states,  as  is  most 
suitable  to  times  and  circumstances.     But  if  it  be  con- 
sidered as  a  divine  command,  it  is  evidently  out  of  their 


78  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

reach  or  control.  However  pernicious  an  effect  may 
arise,  they  have  no  means  to  obviate  it,  without  what 
ought  never  to  be  seen  —  the  government  intentionally 
violating  the  laws  which  it  tells  its  people  are  sacred, 
and  cannot  be  violated  without  the  commission  of  a  great 
sin. — The  governors  despatching  mail-coaches  in  all 
directions,  and  fining  poor  men  for  being  shaved  before 
they  go  to  church,  on  a  Sunday  morning.  * 

75.  It  will  now  probably  be  demanded,  whether  a 
wish  is  entertained  to  abolish  the  observance  of  the 
Sunday  or  not :  to  which  the  reply  is,  certainly  not. 
The  Jewish  Sabbath  was  abolished  by  Jesus ;  and  if  it 
were  in  the  power  of  the  Author,  it  should  not  be  re- 
stored by  him.  But  the  question  is  not  about  the  seventh 
day  of  the  week,  but  about  the  Sunday,  the  first ;  and 
concerning  the  latter,  the  question  is,  not  whether  it  is 
to  be  abolished,  but  whether  it  is  to  be  kept,  subject  to 
the  regulation  of  the  government,  as  a  fast  or  a  feast  — 
whether  it  is  to  be  made  for  man,  or  man  is  to  be  made 
for  it : — whether,  with  the  modern  Pharisees,  it  is  to  be 
kept  like  Ash  Wednesday  and  Good  Friday,  or,  with 
Bishop  Cranmer,  Edward  the  Sixth,  Elizabeth,  and  all 
our  early  reformers,  it  is  to  be  kept  like  Easter  Sunday 
and  Christmas-day  ;  and  it  may  be  added  also,  with  all 

*  Strain  not  your  scythe,  suppressors  of  our  vice, 
Reforming  saints  !  too  delicately  nice  ! 
By  whose  decrees,  our  sinful  souls  to  save, 
No  Sunday  tankards  foam,  no  barbers  shave  ; 
And  beer  undrawn  and  beards  unmown  display 
Your  holy  reverence  for  the  Sabbath-day. 

BYRON,  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers. 


HOR.E  SABBATIC^.  79 

the  Catholic  and  Greek  Christians,  and  many  of  the 
followers  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  at  Geneva,  and  several 
parts  of  Germany,  beyond  all  comparison  much  the 
greater  part  of  the  Christian  world. 

76.  If  it  were  observed  to  our  little,  though  increasing 
junto  of  Puritans,  that  it  is  incumbent  upon  them  to  pay 
some  attention  to  the  great  majority  of  the  Christian 
world,  who  entertain  an  opinion  on  this  subject  different 
from  them,  and  that  they  ought  not  to  be  too  confident 
in  their  own  judgment,  but  to  recollect  that  it  does  not 
become  them  in  fact,  thoiigh  perhaps  not  in  name,  to 
assume  to  themselves  that  infallibility  which  they  deny 
to  the  united  church  of  Christ  with  the  Pope  at  its  head  ; 
they  would  probably  reply,  that  they  have  a  right  to 
judge  for  themselves,  that  they  will  not  be  controlled 
by  Antichrist,  or  the  scarlet  whore  of  Babylon.  With 
persons  who  can  make  this  answer,  the  author  declines 
all  discussion ;  he  writes  not  for  them,  but  for  persons 
who,  having  understandings,  make  use  of  them  :  and  to 
these  persons  he  observes,  that  he  does  not  wish  their 
opinions  to  be  controlled  by  any  authority  ;  but  he  begs 
them  to  recollect  the  beautiful  story  of  the  cameleon  — 
that  others  can  see  as  well  33  themselves  ;  and  that  when 
a  great  majority  of  the  Christian  world  is  against  them, 
it  is  possible  that  they  may  be  in  error ;  and  that  there- 
fore it  is  incumbent  upon  them  to  free  their  minds  from 
passion  or  prejudice  as  much  as  possible,  in  the  considera- 
tion of  this  very  important  subject.  That  on  the  de- 
cision respecting  it  depends  the  question,  whether  the 
Christian  religion  is  to  be  a  system  of  cheerfulness,  of 


80  HOR^E  SABBATIC^. 

happiness,  and  of  joy,  or  of  weeping,  wailing  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth. 

77.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  any  thing  more  upon  this 
subject.  It  has  been  shown,  that  the  intention  of  the 
writer  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  of  the  remainder 
of  the  Pentateuch  was,  to  teach  that  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath  was  expressly  limited  to  the  children  of 
Israel  ;  that  it  was  a  sign  of  the  covenant  betwixt  them 
and  God  ;  and  that  the  sign  and  the  covenant  went 
together.  It  has  been  shown,  that  it  was  abolished  by 
Jesus,  when  he  did  not  enumerate  the  Sabbath  amongst 
the  commandments  which  he  ordered  to  be  retained,  and 
by  his  conduct  in  breaking  it  on  various  occasions.  It 
has  been  shown,  that  it  was  abolished  at  the  first  council 
of  the  Church,  held  by  the  Apostles  at  Jerusalem ;  and 
that  St.  Paul  has  in  the  clearest  terms,  and  repeatedly, 
expressed  his  disapprobation,  not  only  of  Sabbaths,  but 
of  the  compulsory  keeping  of  set-days  as  an  ordinance  of 
religion.  Not  a  single  passage  can  be  produced  from  the 
Gospels  or  Epistles,  in  approbation  of  the  continuation 
of  the  Sabbath,  or  of  the  substitution  of  any  day  in  its 
place.  Nor  can  it  be  shown,  that  the  early  Christians 
considered  the  observance  of  Sunday  as  the  renewal  of 
the  Jewish  Sabbath,  or  in  any  sense  as  an  institution  of 
divine  appointment;  and  therefore,  from  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  whole  argument,  and  cf  all  the  circum- 
stances relating  to  it  —  its  antiquity  —  its  utility  when 
not  abused  —  and  the  many  comforts  which  it  is  calcu- 
lated to  produce  to  the  poor  and  working-classes  of  man- 
kind, it  may  be  concluded,  that  the  observance  of  Sunday 


SABBATICJE.  8l 

is  a  wise  and  benevolent  human,  but  not  divine  ordinance  ; 
a  festival,  which  it  is  on  every  account  proper  and  ex- 
pedient to  support,  in  such  due  bounds  as  will  make  it 
most  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  society.  That  with 
Christians  it  ought  not  to  be  a  day  of  penance  and  humil- 
iation, but  of  happiness,  joy,  and  thanksgiving,  as  it  was 
established  by  Edward  the  Sixth  at  the  Reformation  ;  a 
festival,  to  celebrate  the  glorious  resurrection  of  their 
Saviour  to  life  and  immortality. 

WHEN  THOU  PRAYEST,  ENTER  INTO  THY  CLOSET  : 
AND  WHEN  THOU  HAST  SHUT  THY  DOOR,  PRAY  TO 
THY  FATHER  WHICH  IS  IN  SECRET  ;  AND  THY  FATHER, 
WHICH  SEEST  IN  SECRET,  SHALL  REWARD  THEE 

OPENLY.* 

*  One  of  the  quotations  from  the  Gospel  of  Luke  is  not  taken  from 
the  orthodox  version.  The  author  being  in  the  habit  of  consulting 
different  versions,  copied  it  from  the  wrong  version  by  mistake,  and 
did  not  discover  it  till  the  sheet  was  printed  off.  It  is  of  no  conse- 
quence whatever  to  the  argument ;  and  he  only  notes  it  that  he  may 
not  give  a  handle  to  ill  temper,  to  accuse  him  of  misquotation. 


FINIS. 


©lassies,  ®o.  i.) 


History  of  Christianity 

Comprising  all  that  relates  to  the  Christian  religion  in  "  The  History  of  the  Declmt 
and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,''1  and,  also, 

-*A   VINDICATION*- 

(never  before  published  in  this  country,) 

of  "SOME  PASSAGES  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  AND  SIXTEENTH  CHAPTERS,"  by 

EDWARD   GIBBON,   ESQ. 

With  a  Preface,  Life  of  the  Author,  and  Notes  by  PETER  ECKLER;  also,  Variorum 

Notes  by  GUIZOT,  WENCK,  MII.MAN,   "an  ENGLISH  CHURCHMAN,"  and 

other  scholars. 

One  vol.,  Post  8vo,  864  pages,  with  Portrait  of  Gibbon  and  numerous  Engravings  of 
mythological  divinities.    Ex.  vellum  cloth,  $2.00 ;  half  cnlf,  $4.00. 


"  This  important  work  contains  Gibbon's  complete  Theological  writings,  separate  from  his 
historical  and  miscellaneous  works,  showing  wfien,  where,  and  how  Christianity  originated  ; 
who  were  its  founders ;  and  what  were  the  sentiments,  character,  manners,  numbers  and  con- 
dition of  the  primitive  Christians.  What  has  been  said  by  Christians  in  regard  fo  the  Origin 
of  Christianity  is  reprinted  from  the  valuable  notes  of  Dean  Milman,  Wenck,  Guizot,  and  other 
eminent  Christian  historians  who  have  edited  Gibbon's  works :  and  the  pious  but  scholarly 
remarks  of  the  learned  editor  of  BOHN'S  edition  of  Gibbon  are  also  given  in  full.  Among  the 
numerous  illustrations  will  be  found  representations  of  the  principal  divinities  of  the  Pagan 
mythology  The  sketch  of  the  author's  life  adds  value  and  interest  to  the  book,  which  is  not 
only  well  edited  and  printed,  but  substantially  bound.  It  will  be  a  treasure  for  all  libraries.'7 
—  The  Magazine  of  American  History. 


ifarat  ©lassies,  ma.  2.) 


Voltaire's  Romances, 

A  New  Edition,  Profusely  Illustrated. 


"I  choose  that  a  story  should  be  founded  on  probability,  and  not  always  resemble  a 
dream.  I  desire  to  find  nothing  in  it  trivial  or  extravagant ;  and  I  desire  above  all, 
that  under  the  appearance  of  fable,  there  may  appear  some  latent  truth,  obvious  to 
the  discerning  eye,  though  it  escape  the  observation  of  the  vulgar." —  Voltaire. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  WHITE  BULL;  a  Satirical  Romance. 
ZAOIC  ;  OR  FATE.    An  Oriental  History. 
THE  SAGE  AND  THE  ATHEIST. 
THE  PRINCESS  OF  BABYLON. 
THE  MAN  OF  FORTY  CROWNS. 
THE  HUROW  ;  OR  PUPIL  OF  NATURE. 
MICROMRGAS.    A  satire  on  mankind. 
THK  WORLD  AS  IT  GOES. 
THK  BLACK  AND  THE  WHITE. 
MEMNON  THE  PHILOSOPHER. 
ANDRE  DBS  TOUCHES  AT  SIAM. 


BABABEC. 

THE  STUDY  OF  NATURE. 

A  CONVERSATION  WITH  A  CHINESE. 

PLATO'S  DREAM. 

A  PLEASURE  IN  HAVING  NO  PLEASURE. 

AN  ADVENTURE  IN  INDIA. 

JKANNOT  AND  COLIN. 

TRAVELS  OF  SCARMKNTADO. 

THK  GOOD  BRAMIN. 

THE  Two  COMFORTERS. 

ANCIENT  FAITH  AND  FABLE. 


One  TO!.,  post  8ro,  480  paves,  with  Portrait  and  82  II I ns1r.it ions.     Paper,  $1.00; 
Extra  rellum  cloth,  $1.50;  half  calf,  $4.00. 


Voltaire's  satire  was  as  keen  and  fine  pointed  as  a  rapier. — Magazine  of  Am.  History. 
\  delightful  reproduction,  unique  and  refreshing.  —  Boston  Commonwealth. 


gibcval  (CTusstcs,  (So.  3.) 


Christian  Paradoxes. 

The  Characters  of  a  Believing  Christian  in 
Paradoxes  and  Seeming  Contradictions, 


FRANCIS    BACON,    (LORD  VERULAM.) 


i&  pages,  post  8vo,  with  portrait.    Paper  cover,  10  cents. 


From  the  doubts  these  Paradoxes  imply,  it  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
Bacon  was  of  those  who  believe  that  religion  should  be  taught  in  a  symbolical 
and  mystical  language  that  the  initiated  and  learned  few  may  understand,  and 
the  great  multitude  believe  ;  and  also  that  its  true  meaning  should  be  veiled  and 
hidden  in  paradoxes  and  parables,  "that  seeing  they  may  see  and  not  peicciv 
wid  hearing  they  may  hear  and  not  understand." — Preface. 


giberal  Classics,  (So.  6.) 


A   NEW  EDITION,  JUST   PUBLISHED,   OF 


VOLNEY'S    RUINS 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE, 

TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 

VOLNEY'S  ANSWER  TO  DR.  PRIESTLY,  A  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE 
BY  COUNT  DARU,  AND  THE  ZODIACAL  SIGNS  AND 

CONSTELLATIONS    BY    THE    EDITOR; 

Also,  a  Map  of  the  Astrological  Heaven  of  the  Ancients. 


Printed  on  heavy  paper,  from  new  plates,  in  large  clear  type,  with  portrait  and  illus- 
trations.   One  vol.,  post  8vo,  248  pages ;  Paper,  500 ;  cloth,  750. ;  half-calf,  $3  oo. 


This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  and  most  useful  books  ever  published.  It  eloquently 
advocates  the  best  interests  of  mankind,  and  clearly  points  out  the  sources  of  human  ignor- 
ance and  misery.  The  author  is  supposed  to  meet  in  the  ruins  of  Palmyra  an  apparition  or 
phantom,  which  explains  the  true  principles  of  society,  and  the  causes  of  both  the  pros- 
perity and  the  ruin  of  ancient  states.  A  general  assembly  of  the  nations  is  at  length 
convened,  a  legislative  body  formed,  the  source  and  origin  of  religion,  of  government, 
and  of  laws  discussed,  and  the  Law  of  Nature— founded  on  justice  and  equity  —  is  finally 
proclaimed  to  an  expectant  world. 

"  VOLNEY'S  Ruins  will  be  read  with  as  much  interest  to-day  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago. 
It  is  a  book  that  was  born  to  immortality  and  a  hundred  years  to  come  it  will  be  as  fresh  as 
it  is  lo-da,j"—Rcliyio-PhiUMiophical  Journal. 


Superstition  in  all  Ages 

OR,   "L.E  BON  SENS," 

*Bv  JEAN  MESLIER,* 

A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  PRIEST, 

Who,  after  a  pastoral  service  of  thirty  years  in  France,  wholly  ab- 
jured religious  dogmas,  and  asked  God's  pardon  for  having  taught 
the  Christian  religion.  He  left  this  volume  as  his  last  Will  and 
Testament  to  his  parishioners  and  to  the  world. 

TRANSLATED   FROM   THE   FRENCH   ORIGINAL  BY 

MISS  ANNA  KNOOP. 


Post  8?o,  339  pages,  with  Portrait.    Paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.00 ;  half  calf,  $8.00. 
The  same  work  in  German.    Cloth,  $1.00. 


The  work  of  the  honest  pastor  is  the  most  curious  and  the  most  powerful  thing  of 
the  kind  that  the  last  century  produced.  .  .  Paine  and  Voltaire  had  reserves,  but 
Jean  Meslier  had  none.  He  keeps  nothing  back  ;  and  yet,  after  all,  the  wonder  is  not 
that  there  should  have  been  one  priest  who  left  that  testimony  at  his  death,  but  that  all 
priests  do  not. — yames  Parian. 


THE  SOCIAL  CONTRACT, 

Or  PRINCIPLES  OF  POLITICAL  LAW. 
Also,  A  PROJECT  FOR  A  PERPETUAL  PEACE, 

BY 

JEAN    JACQUES    ROUSSEAU,  Citizen  of  Geneva. 

One  volume,  post  8vo,  238  pages,  with  portrait,  extra  vellum  cloth,  75c.,  paper  50c. 

The  wriiings  of  Rousseau,  says  Thomas  Paine,  in  his  Rights  o/ Man,  contain 
"a  loveliness  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  Liberty  that  excites  respect  and  elevates 
the  human  faculties." 

"  He  was  the  most  directly  revolutionary  of  all  the  speculative  precursors.  His 
writings  produced  that  glow  of  enthusiastic  feeling  in  France,  which  led  to  the  all- 
important  assistance  rendered  by  that  country  to  the  American  colonists  in  a 
struggle  so  momentous  for  mankind.  It  was  from  his  writings  that  the  Americans 
took  the  ideas  and  the  phrases  of  their  great  Charter.  It  was  his  work  more  than 
that  of  any  other  one  man,  that  France  arose  from  the  deadly  decay  which  laid 
hold  of  her  whole  social  and  political  system,  and  found  that  irresistible  energy 
which  warded  off  dissolution  within,  and  partition  from  without." — JOHN  MORLEY. 

"  He  could  be  cooped  up  in  garrets,  laughed  at  as  a  maniac,  left  to  starve  like 
a  wild  beast  in  a  cage, —  but  he  could  not  be  hindered  from  setting  the  world  on 
fire. — THOMAS  CARLYLE. 

PROFESSION  OF  FAITH~of  the  Vicar  of  Savoy, 

BY  JEAN  JACQUES  ROUSSEAU, 

Also,  A  SEARCH  FOR  TRUTH,  by  Olive  Schreiner. 

Post  8vo,  128  pages,  with  portrait,     Vellum  Cloth  50c.,  paper  26c. 


pforal  Classics,  (S*.  7.) 


THE  WORKS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE, 


Life  of  Thomas  Paine,  by  Editor  of  the  National  with  Preface  and  Notes  by 
Peter  Eckler.  Illustrated  with  views  of  the  Old  Paine  Homestead  and  Paine 
Monument,  at  New  Rochelle,  also,  portraits  of  Thomas  Clio  Rickman,  Joel 
Barlow,  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  Madame  Roland,  Condorcet,  Brissot,  and  the 
most  prominent  of  Paine's  friends  in  Europe  and  America.  Paper  50  cts.:  clo  .75 

The  Age  of  Reason  ;  being  an  investigation  of  True  and  Fabulous  Theology. 
A  new  and  complete  edition,  from  new  plates  and  new  type ;  186  pages,  post 
8vo.  Paper  25  cts. ;  cloth  50  cts. 

Common  Sense.  A  Revolutionary  pamphlet,  addressed  to  the  inhabitants  of 
America  in  1776,  With  an  explanatory  notice  by  an  English  author.  Paper  15  cts. 

The  Crisis  and  Common  Sense.  The  Crisis,  written  in  "  the  times  that 
tried  men's  souls  "  during  the  American  Revolution,  was  preceded  by  the  revo- 
lutionary pamphlet  Common  Sense,  which  awakened  the  desire  for  freedom  and 
independence.  300  pages,  post  8vo.  Paper  30  cents,  cloth  50  cents. 

The  Rights  of  Man.  Parts  I  and  II.  Being  an  answer  to  Mr.  Burke's  attack 
upon  the  French  Revolution.  Post  8vo.,  279  pages.  Paper  30  cts.,  cloth,  50  cts. 

Paine's  Complete  Theological  Works.— Age  of  Reason,  Examination  of 
the  Prophecies,  etc.  Illus.  edition.  Post  8vo,  432  pp.;  paper  50  cts.;  cloth  fl.OO- 

Paine's  Political  Works.— Common  Sense,  The  Crisis,  Rightsof  Man,  etc. 
Illustrated  edition.  Post  8vo,  650  pages ;  cloth  fl.OO 

Paine's  Great  Works.    Popular  edition.    1  vol.  cloth,  $3.00. 


gifreral  dassits.  ®o.  a.) 


FORCE  AND  MATTER 

OR 

Principles  of  the  Natural  Order  of  the  Universe, 

WITH   A  SYSTEM   OF    MORALITY    BASED   THEREON. 

BY 

PROF.    LUDWIG   BUCHNER,   M.  D. 


A  scientific  and  rationalistic  work  of  great  merit  and  ability.   Translated  from  the  ist 
German  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged  by  the  author,  and  reprinted  from 

the  fourth  English  edition. 
One  volume,  post  8vo,  414  pages,  with  portrait,  vellum  cloth,  $1.50 ;  half  calf,  $3.00. 


Force  and  Matter, 
Immortality  of  Matter, 
Immortality  of  Force, 
Infinity  of  Matter, 
Value  of  Matter, 
Motion,  Form, 

Immutability  of  Natural 

Laws, 
Universality  of  Natural 

Laws, 


COSTTEITT'S  : 
The  Heavens, 
Periods  of  the  Creation 

the  Earth, 

Original  Generation, 
Secular  Generation, 
The  Fitness  of  Things  in 

Nature,  (Teleology), 
Man, 

Brain  and  Mind, 
Thought, 


Consciousness, 

Seat  of  the  Soul, 

Innate  Ideas, 

The  Idea  of  God, 

Personal  Continuance, 

Vital  Force, 

The  Soul  of  Brutes, 

Free  Will. 

Morality, 

Concluding  Observations. 


Rob't  G.  Ingersoll's  Writings. 


ONLY   AUTHORIZED   EDITIONS. 


Ineersoll'S  Lectures  Complete.  In  One  Volume:  Half  Morocco. 
Containing  over  L300  pages.  Price,  $5.00. 

***°tS,  r£°.emS  an<J  Selections.  In  eOk  cloth,  »2.50 :  in  half  calf,  ttJBO: 
in  full  Turkey  morocco,  gilt,  |7 M ;  in  full  tree  calf,  f9.00. 

T1J£  Gods  and  Other  Lectures,   comprising  The  Gods,  Humboidt, 

Thomas  Paine,  Individuality,  Heretics  and  Heresies.  Paper  60c. ;  cloth,  fl 
The  GhoStS  aild  Other  Lectures.  Including  Liberty  of  Man,  Woman, 
and  Child.  The  Declaration  of  Independence,  About  Farming  in  Illinois,  Speech 
Nominating  James  Q.  Elaine  for  Presidency  in  1876,  The  Grant  Banquet,  A  Tributeto 
Bey.  Alex.  Clarke,  The  Past  Rises  Before  Me  Like  a  Dream,  and  A  Tribute  to  Ebon 
C.  IngersolL  Paper,  80c. ;  cloth,  ft 

Some  Mistakes  Of  Moses.  Contents:  Some  Mistakes  of  Moses,  Free 
Schools,  The  Politicians,  Man  and  Woman,  The  Pentateuch,  Monday.  Tuesday, 
Wednesday,  Thursday,  He  Made  the  Stars  Also.  Friday,  Saturday,  Let  Us  Make  Man, 
Sunday,  The  Necessity  for  a  Good  Memory,  The  Garden,  The  Fail,  Dampness,  Bac- 
chus and  Babel,  Faith  in  Filth,  The  Hebrews,  The  Plagues.  The  Flight,  Confess 
and  Avoid;  Inspired  Slavery,  Marriage,  War,  Religious  Liberty;  Conclusion. 
Pap»v,50c.;clotfi,fL 

Interviews  On  TalmagC.  Being  Six  Interviews  with  the  Famous  Orator 
on  Six  Sermons  by  the  Eev.  T.  DeWitt  Talmage,  of  Brooklyn,  to  which  is  added  a 
Talmagian  Catechism.  Paper,  60c. ;  cloth,  $1.25 . 

InSferSOll  Field  DisCUSSion.  Faith  or  Agnosticism.  Discussion  between 
B.  G.  Ingersoll  and  H.  M.  Field,  D.  D.  Paper,  50c. 

Blasphemy.  Argument  by  K.  G.  Ingersoll  in  the  Trial  oi  O.  B.  Beynolds.  at 
Morristown,  N.  J.  Paper,  25c. ;  cloth,  50c. 

What  Must  We  Do  To  Be  Saved  ?  Analyzes  the  so-called  gospeis 
of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  and  devotes  a  chapter  each  to  the  Catholics, 
Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  Evangelical  Alliance,  and  answers  the 
question  of  the  Christians  as  to  what  he  proposes  instead  of  Christianity,  the  religion 
sword  and  of  flame.  Paper,  25  cents. 


A   VISIT  TO  CEYLON 

BY 

ERNEST    HAECKEL, 

PBOPE88OR  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  JENA.     AUTHOR  OP  "THE  HISTORY  OP  CREATION," 
"HISTORY  OP  THE  EVOLUTION  OP  MAN,"  ETC. 

WITH  PORTRAIT,   AND  MAP    OF  INDIA    AND   CEYLON. 

T'B.ft.HSl^R.T'BD  BY  CI^RBR  B"SllAi. 
One  volume,  post  8vo,  348  pages,  extra  vellum  cloth,  $1.00. 


Before  venturing  on  this  memorable  voyage  to  India  and  Ceylon,  whose  results  have 
delighted  and  entranced  many  readers  in  both  hemispheres,  our  enthusiastic  author, 
having  conferred  many  zoological  titles  in  honor  of  the  auutist  divinity  that  controls  and 
governs  the  solar  orb,  claimed  in  return  special  consideration  and  protection  from  the 
occult  forces  of  that  brilliant  luminary,  and  hoping  to  be  favored  with  pleasant  and  agree- 
able weather  during  the  entire  voyage,  he  made,  with  all  the  solemnity  that  becomes  a 
scientist,  the  following  propitiatory  invocation  to  Helios,  the  benignant  god  of  the  Sun: 

"I  beseech  thee,  adored  Sun-god,  that  this,  my  zoological  tribute,  may  find  favor  in 
thine  eyes  !  Gnide  me,  safe  and  sound,  to  India,  that  I  may  labor  in  thy  light,  and  return 
home  under  thy  protection  in  the  spring."—  HaeckeFs  l^isil  to  Cfylon,  page  20. 

"These  letters  constitute  one  of  the  most  charming  books  of  travel  ever  published,  quite 
worthy  of  being  placed  by  the  side  of  Darwin's  '•Voyage  of  the  Beagle.''  " — Nation, 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 


n? 


'.*.** 

UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILIT 


III  iiiii  iiin  HIII  IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 
A    001  001  178     1 


1 


»£* 

*^i 


